THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


IMPORTANCE 


PRACTICAL    EDUCATION 


USEFUL     KNOWLEDGE 


A  SELECTION  FROM  HIS  ORATIONS  A]*D  OTHER 
DISCOURSES, 


BY  EDWARD  EVERETT. 


NEW    YORK: 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS 
1854. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1840,  by 

MARSH,  CAPEN,  LYON,  AND  WEBB, 
in  tb«  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


Education 
Library 


AUTHOR'S  ADVERTISEMENT. 


THIS  Volume  contains  a  selection  from  the  orations 
and  speeches  delivered  by  the  Author,  on  various  pub- 
lic occasions,  within  the  last  sixteen  years.  Although 
most  of  them  refer  to  the  subject  of  Education,  in  some 
one  of  its  numerous  aspects,  it  cannot  be  expected  of 
the  collection  to  form  a  systematic  whole,  exhibiting 
the  unity  of  a  single  treatise.  As  several  of  them  were 
delivered  on  occasions  of  precisely  the  same  character, 
there  is  a  repetition  of  some  of  the  ideas  and  illustra- 
tions, scarcely  to  be  avoided,  under  the  circumstances 
of  the  case. 

The  reader  is  requested  to  advert  to  the  date  of  the 
original  delivery  of  the  different  orations  and  speeches, 
which  compose  the  Volume.  They  contain  some  ref- 
erences, which  could  not  conveniently  be  altered,  to 
things  as  they  existed  at  the  time,  and  which  have 
since  undergone  change.  The  cases  are  such,  howev- 
er, it  is  believed,  that  no  erroneous  impression  will  be 
produced  on  the  mind,  by  leaving  the  text  as  it  origi- 
nally stood.  It  will  even  sometimes  be  found,  that  the 
original  statement  affords  the  means  of  an  instructive 
comparison  with  the  present  state  of  things,  in  matters 
pertaining  to  the  progress  of  the  country. 

Of  the  addresses  contained  in  this  Volume,  those 
delivered  before  1836  are  found  in  the  general  collec- 

628979 


4  AUTHOR  S  ADVERTISEMENT. 

tion  of  the  Author's  orations,  published  in  that  year. 
Those  of  subsequent  date  have  never  before  been  col- 
lected. The  speech  made  at  the  School  Convention, 
at  Taunton,  has  never  appeared  in  a  separate  form ; 
and  the  remarks  at  the  School  Convention,  at  Tisbury, 
are  now  for  the  first  time  published. 

The  addresses,  which  have  before  appeared,  have 
been  subjected  to  a  careful  revision,  for  this  edition, 
especially  with  a  view  to  their  adaptation  for  youthful 
readers.  Several  of  the  marginal  references  and  other 
explanations  have  been  made  for  their  information,  by 
the  intelligent  and  accurate  Supervisor  of  the  publica- 
tion, Mr.  JOSEPH  W.  INGRAIIAM,  to  whom  the  Author 
feels  himself  under  great  obligations,  for  the  care  with 
which  the  Volume  has  been  carried  through  the  press. 
The  Glossary,  an  important  addition  to  the  Work,  will, 
it  is  believed,  be  found  to  contain  a  more  than  usual 
amount  of  valuable  information. 

The  Volume  is  now  respectfully  dedicated  to  the 
rising  generation  of  the  country,  with  ardent  wishes  for 
their  improvement,  virtue,  and  happiness. 


CONTENTS. 


THE  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO  LITERARY  IM- 
PROVEMENT IN  AMERICA, 7 

An  Oration,  pronounced  at  Cambridge,  before  the  Society 
of  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  August  26,  1824. 

FlRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND,  ...       44 

Oration  delivered  at  Plymouth,  December  22,  1824. 

ON  THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE  TO 
PRACTICAL  MEN,  AND  ON  THE  ENCOURAGEMENTS 
TO  ITS  PURSUIT, 73 

Substance  of  Addresses  delivered  before  several  Institutions 
for  Scientific  Improvement. 

LECTURE  ON  THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY,       .     .     .113 
Delivered  before  the  Charlestown  Lyceum,  October,  1830. 

ADVANTAGE  OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE  TO  WORKING- 
MEN,  138 

An  Address  delivered  as  the  Introduction  to  the  Franklin 
Lectures,  in  Boston,  November  14,  1831. 

EDUCATION  IN  THE  WEST, 162 

Speech  at  a  Public  Meeting  held  at  St.  Paul's  Church,  Bos- 
ton, May  22,  1833,  on  behalf  of  Kenyon  College. 

EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND, 172 

An  Address  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  hi  Yale 
College,  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  August  20,  1833. 

BENEFITS  OF  A  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE,  213 

Address  delivered  before  the  Literary  Societies  of  Amherst 
College,  August  25,  1835. 
1* 


6  CONTENTS. 

ON  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION,  ....    249 

An  Address  delivered  before  the  Adelphic  Union  Society  of 
Williams  College,  on  Commencement  Day,  August  16, 
1837. 

THE   IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS,    .       .       .    280 

An  Address  delivered  before  the  Massachusetts  Charitable 
Mechanic  Association,  September  20, 1837,  on  Occasion 
of  their  first  Exhibition  and  Fair. 

EDUCATION  THE  NURTURE  OF  THE  MIND,       .     .     .  299 

Substance  of  Remarks,  made  at  the  County  Convention  of 
the  Friends  of  Education,  held  at  Tisbury,  on  the  Island 
of  Martha's  Vineyard,  August  16,  1838. 

ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT,    .     .  307 

An  Address  delivered  before  the  Mercantile  Library  Asso- 
ciation, at  the  Odeon,  in  Boston,  September  13,  1838. 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A  REPUBLIC,      .    334 

Substance  of  Remarks  made  at  a  County  Common-School 
Convention,  held  in  Taunton,  October  10,  1838. 

GLOSSARY, 349 

INDEX, 397 


EDUCATION  AND  KNOWLEDGE. 


THE    CIRCUMSTANCES    FAVORABLE  TO  LIT- 
ERARY IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.* 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  GENTLEMEN, — IN  discharging 
the  honorable  trust,  which  you  have  assigned  to  me,  on 
this  occasion,  I  am  anxious,  that  the  hour,  which  we 
pass  together,  should  be  exclusively  occupied  with  those 
reflections,  which  belong  to  us,  as  scholars.  Our  asso- 
ciation in  this  fraternity  is  academical ;  we  entered  it, 
before  our  Alma  Mater  dismissed  us  from  her  venerable 
roof;  and  we  have  now  come  together,  in  the  holydays, 
from  every  variety  of  pursuit,  and  every  part  of  the 
Country,  to  meet  on  common  ground,  as  the  brethren  of 
one  literary  household.  The  duties  and  cares  of  life, 
like  the  Grecian  states,  in  times  of  war,  have  proclaim- 
ed to  us  a  short  armistice,  that  we  may  come  up,  in 
peace,  to  our  Olympia. 

On  this  occasion,  it  has  seemed  proper  to  me,  that 
we  should  turn  our  thoughts,  not  merely  to  some  topic 
of  literary  interest,  but  to  one  which  concerns  us,  as 
American  scholars.  I  have  accordingly  selected,  as  the 
subject  of  our  inquiry,  THE  CIRCUMSTANCES  PECULIARLY 

CALCULATED  TO  PROMOTE  THE  PROGRESS  OF  IMPROVE- 
MENT, AND  TO  FURNISH  THE  MOTIVES  TO  INTELLECTUAL 
EXERTION,  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.  In 

*  An  Oration,  pronounced  at  Cambridge,  before  the  Society  of  Phi 
Beta  Kappa,  August  26,  1824. 


8  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

the  discussion  of  this  subject,  that  curiosity,  which  every 
scholar  naturally  feels,  in  tracing  and  comparing  the 
character  of  the  higher  civilization  of  different  countries, 
is  dignified  and  rendered  practical,  by  the  important 
connexion  of  the  inquiry,  with  the  condition  and  pros- 
pects of  his  Native  Land. 

I  am  aware  that  such  inquiries  are  apt  to  degenerate 
into  fanciful  speculations,  and  doubtful  refinements. 
Why  Asia  has,  almost  without  exception,  been  the  abode 
of  some  form  of  despotism,  and  Europe  more  propitious 
to  liberty ; — why  the  civilization  of  the  Egyptians  was  of 
a  character  so  melancholy  and  perishable ;  that  of  the 
Greeks  so  elegant,  versatile,  and  life-giving ;  that  of  the 
Romans  so  stern  and  tardy,  till  they  became  the  imita- 
tors of  a  people,  whom  they  conquered  and  despised, 
but  never  equalled  ; — why  tribes  of  barbarians,  from  the 
North  and  East,  not  supposed  to  differ,  essentially,  from 
each  other,  at  the  time  of  their  settlement  in  Europe, 
should  have  laid  the  foundation  of  national  characters  so 
dissimilar,  as  those  of  the  Spaniards,  French,  Germans, 
and  English ; — are  questions,  to  which  such  answers, 
only,  can  be  given,  as  will  be  just  and  safe,  in  propor- 
tion as  they  are  general  and  comprehensive.  It  is  diffi- 
cult, even  in  the  case  of  the  individual  man,  to  point 
out  precisely  the  causes,  under  the  operation  of  which, 
-members  of  the  same  community,  and  even  of  the  same 
family,  grow  up,  with  characters  the  most  diverse.  It 
must,  of  course,  be  much  more  difficult  to  perform  the 
same  analysis  on  a  subject  so  vast  as  a  nation,  composed 
of  communities  and  individuals,  greatly  differing  from 
each  other,  all  subjected  to  innumerable  external  influ- 
ences, and  working  out  the  final  result,  not  less  by  mu- 
tual counteraction,  than  cooperation. 

But  as,  in  the  formation  of  individual  character,  there 
are  causes  of  undisputed  and  powerful  operation,  so,  in 
national  character,  there  are  causes,  equally  undisputed, 
of  growth  and  excellence,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  de- 
generacy and  ruin,  on  the  other.  It  belongs  to  the  phi- 
losophy of  history,  to  investigate  these  causes ;  and,  if 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  9 

possible,  to  point  out  the  circumstances,  which,  as  fur- 
nishing the  motives,  and  giving  the  direction,  to  intel- 
lectual effort  in  different  nations,  have  had  a  chief 
agency  in  making  them  what  they  were,  or  are.  Where 
it  is  done  judiciously,  it  is  in  the  highest  degree  curi- 
ous, thus  to  trace  physical  or  political  facts  into  moral 
and  intellectual  consequences,  and  great  historical  re- 
sults ;  and  to  show,  how  climate,  geographical  position, 
local  topography,  institutions,  single  events,  and  the 
influence  of  the  characters  of  individuals,  have  fixed  the 
pursuits  and  decided  the  destiny  of  nations. 

In  pursuing  such  inquiries,  we  may  be  led  to  the  con- 
clusion, that  the  physical  effect  of  a  tropical  climate 
enervates  a  people,  and  fits  them  to  become  the  sub- 
jects of  despotism  ;  though  it  may  render  them,  also, 
formidable  instruments  of  desolating  but  transitory  con- 
quest, under  the  lead  of  able  and  daring  chiefs.  We 
may  find  that  a  broad  river,  or  a  lofty  chain  of  moun- 
tains, by  stopping  the  march  of  war  or  of  emigration, 
becomes  the  boundary,  not  merely  of  governments,  but 
of  languages  and  literature,  of  institutions  and  charac- 
ter. We  may  sometimes  think  we  can  trace  extraor- 
dinary skill,  in  the  liberal  arts,  to  the  existence  of  a 
quarry  of  fine  marble.  We  may  see  popular  eloquence 
springing  out  of  popular  institutions,  and,  in  its  turn, 
greatly  instrumental  in  affecting  the  fortunes  of  free 
states.  We  may  behold  the  spirit  of  a  lawgiver  or  re- 
former perpetuated  by  codes  and  institutions,  for  "ages. 
We  may  trace  the  career  of  colonial  settlements,  insu- 
lar states,  tribes  fortified  within  Alpine  battlements,  or 
scattered  over  a  smiling  region  of  olive  gardens  and 
vineyards: — and  deduce  the  political  and  historical  ef- 
fects of  these  physical  causes. 

These  topics  of  rational  curiosity  and  liberal  specula- 
tion, as  I  have  already  intimated,  acquire  practical  im- 
portance, when  the  land  in  which  we  live  is  the  subject 
of  investigation.  When  we  turn  the  inquiry  to  our  own 
Country ;  when  we  survey  its  natural  features,  search 
its  history,  and  examine  its  institutions,  to  see,  what  are 


10          CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

the  circumstances  which  are  to  excite  and  guide  the 
popular  mind  ;  it  then  becomes  an  inquiry  of  the  highest 
interest,  and  worthy  the  attention  of  every  patriotic 
scholar.  We  then  dwell,  not  on  a  distant,  uncertain, 
perhaps  fabulous,  past,  but  on  an  impending  future, 
teeming  with  life,  and  action,  and  public  fortune ;  a 
future,  toward  which  we  are  daily  and  rapidly  swept 
forward,  and  with  which  we  stand  in  the  dearest  con- 
nexion, that  can  bind  the  generations  of  men  together ; 
a  future,  which  our  own  characters,  actions,  and  prin- 
ciples, may  influence,  for  good  or  evil,  for  lasting  glory 
or  shame.  We  then  strive,  as  far  as  our  poor  philoso- 
phy can  do  it,  to  read  the  Country's  reverend  auspices ; 
to  cast  its  great  horoscope  in  the  national  sky,  where 
some  stars  are  waning,  and  some  have  set.  We  en- 
deavor to  ascertain,  whether  the  soil,  which  we  love,  as 
that  where  our  fathers  are  laid,  and  we  shall  presently 
be  laid  with  them,  is  likely  to  be  trod,  in  times  to  come, 
by  an  enlightened,  virtuous,  and  free,  people. 

I.  The  first  circumstance,  of  which  I  shall  speak,  as 
influencing  the  progress  of  improvement,  and  furnish- 
ing the  motives  to  intellectual  effort  among  us,  is  the 
new  form  of  political  society,  established  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  detain  you  with  so  trite 
a  topic,  as  the  praises  of  free  political  institutions ;  but 
to  ask  your  attention  to  the  natural  operation  of  a  rep- 
resentative republican  system,  on  the  character  of  a 
people.  I  call  this,  a  new  form  of  political  society. 
The  ancient  Grecian  republics,  indeed,  were  free 
enough,  within  the  walls  of  the  single  cities,  of  which 
many  of  them  were  wholly  or  chiefly  composed  ;  while, 
toward  the  confederate  or  tributary  states,  the  govern- 
ment too  often  assumed  the  form  of  a  despotism,  more 
capricious,  and  not  less  arbitrary,  than  that  of  a  single  ty- 
rant. Rome  was  never  the  abode  of  genuine,  well-regula- 
ted liberty.  The  remark  just  made  of  the  Grecian  repub- 
lics extends  to  the  Roman,  for  the  greater  portion  of 
its  history  ;  while,  within  the  walls  of  the  city,  the  state 
of  the  Commonwealth  fluctuated  between  the  evils  of 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  11 

an  oppressive  aristocracy  and  a  factious  populace.  The 
rudiments  of  a  representative  legislature  are  to  be  found, 
in  the  estates  of  some  of  the  governments  of  continen 
tal  Europe,  and  far  more  distinctly  and  effectually  de- 
veloped in  the  British  Parliament ;  but  a  uniform  and 
complete  representative  system,  organized  by  a  written 
constitution  of  government,  is  original  in  this  Country. 
Here,  for  the  first  time,  the  whole  direction  and  influ- 
ence of  affairs,  and  all  the  great  organic  functions  of 
the  body  politic,  are  subjected,  directly  or  indirectly, — 
the  executive  and  legislative  functions,  directly, — to  free 
popular  choice.  Whatsoever  quickening  influence  re- 
sides in  public  honors  and  trusts,  and  in  the  cheerful 
consciousness  of  the  individual  possession  of  the  most 
momentous  political  rights,  is  here  exerted,  directly,  on 
the  largest  mass  of  men,  with  the  smallest  possible  de- 
ductions. As  a  despotism,  like  that  of  Turkey  or  Per- 
sia, is,  by  all  admission,  the  form  of  government  least 
favorable  to  the  intellectual  progress  of  a  people,  it 
would  seem  equally  certain,  that  the  further  you  recede 
from  such  a  despotism,  in  the  establishment  of  a  system 
of  popular  and  constitutional  liberty,  the  greater  the 
assurance  that  the  universal  mind  of  the  country  will 
be  powerfully  and  genially  excited. 

But  it  is  objected,  that,  under  an  elective  government, 
of  very  limited  powers,  like  those  of  the  United  States, 
we  lose  that  powerful  spring  of  action,  which  exists  in 
the  patronage  of  strong  hereditary  governments,  and 
must  proceed  from  the  Crown.  I  believe  it  is  a  preva- 
lent opinion,  abroad,  among  those  who  entertain  the 
most  friendly  sentiments  toward  the  American  institu- 
tions, that  we  must  consent  to  dispense  with  something 
of  the  favorable  influence  of  princely  and  royal  patron- 
age on  letters  and  the  arts,  and  find  our  consolation  in 
the  political  benefits  of  a  republican  government.  It 
may  be  doubted,  however,  whether  this  view  be  not  en- 
tirely fallacious.  It  is  by  no  means  to  be  inferred  from 
the  fact,  that  brilliant  geniuses  have  adorned  the  courts 
of  monarchs,  that  such  geniuses  would  not  have  existed 


12  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

under  any  other  form  of  government.  The  patronage 
that  rewards  does  not  necessarily  create. 

It  is  more  important,  however,  to  be  observed,  that  the 
evils  of  centralization  are  as  evident,  in  reference  to  the 
encouragement  of  the  general  mind  of  the  people,  as  they 
are  in  regard  to  a  contented  acquiesence  in  political 
administration.  Whatever  is  gained,  for  those  who 
enjoy  it,  by  concentrating  a  powerful  patronage  in  the 
capital,  and  in  the  central  administration,  is  lost,  in  the 
neglect  and  discouragement  of  the  distant  portions  of  the 
state,  and  its  subordinate  institutions.  It  must  be  re- 
collected, that  our  representative  system  extends  far  be- 
yond the  election  of  the  high  officers  of  the  National 
and  State  governments.  It  pervades  our  local  and  mu- 
nicipal organizations,  and  probably  exercises,  in  them, 
the  most  efficient  and  salutary  part  of  its  influence. 
In  the  healthful  action  of  this  representative  system, 
whatever  virtue  there  is  in  patronage  is  made  to  per- 
vade the  republic,  like  the  air ;  to  reach  the  furthest, 
and  descend  to  the  lowest.  It  is  made  not  only  to  co- 
operate with  the  successful,  and  decorate  the  prosper- 
ous, but  to  cheer  the  remote,  "  to  remember  the  forgot- 
ten, to  attend  to  the  neglected,  to  visit  the  forsaken." 
Hitherto,  the  faculties  of  men  have  had  but  one  weary 
pilgrimage  to  perform, — to  travel  up  to  Court.  By  an 
improvement  on  the  Jewish  polity,  which  enjoined  a 
visit,  thrice  a  year,  to  the  Holy  City,  the  theory  of  pat- 
ronage, in  question,  requires  a  constant  residence  at  the 
favored  spot.  Provincial  has  become  another  term  for 
inferior  and  rude  ;  and  impolite,  which  once  meant 
only  rural,  has  been  made  to  signify  something  little 
better  than  barbarous.  As  it  is,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
a  small  part,  only,  of  the  population  of  a  large  state, 
which  can  thus  bring  itself,  or  by  happy  chance  can 
fall,  into  the  sphere  of  metropolitan  favor,  it  follows, 
that  the  mass  of  the  people  are  cut  off  from  the  oper- 
ation of  those  motives  to  exertion,  which  flow  from  the 
hope  or  the  possession  of  patronage. 

The  auspicious  influence  of  patronage*  is  not,  on  any 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  13 

system  of  distribution,  to  be  sought,  in  its  direct  appli- 
cation to  the  support  of  men  of  genius  and  learning. 
Its  best  operation  is  in  the  cheerful  effect  of  kindly 
notice  and  intelligent  audience.  Talent  indeed  desires 
to  earn  a  support,  but  not  to  receive  a  dole.  It  is 
rightfully  urged,  as  the  great  advantage  of  our  system, 
that  the  encouragements  of  society  extend  as  widely 
as  its  burdens,  and  search  out,  and  bring  forward,  what- 
soever of  ability  and  zeal  for  improvement  are  contain- 
ed in  any  part  of  the  land.  I  am  persuaded,  that, 
mainly  in  this  equable  diffusion  of  rights  and  privileges, 
lies  the  secret  of  the  astonishing  developement  of  intel- 
lectual energy,  in  this  Country.  Capacity  and  opportu- 
nity, the  twin  sisters,  who  can  scarce  subsist  but  with 
each  other,  are  brought  together.  These  little  local 
republics  are  schools  of  character ;  nurseries  of  mind. 
The  people,  who  are  to  choose,  and  from  whose  num- 
ber are  to  be  chosen,  by  their  neighbors,  all  those,  who, 
either  in  higher  or  lower  stations,  are  intrusted  with  the 
management  of  affairs,  feel  the  strongest  impulse  to 
mental  activity.  They  read,  and  think,  and  form  judge- 
ments on  important  subjects.  In  an  especial  manner, 
they  are  moved  to  make  provision  for  education. 
With  all  its  deficiencies,  our  system  of  public  schools, 
— founded,  in  the  infancy  of  the  Country,  by  the  colo- 
nial legislature,  and  transmitted  to  our  own  days. — is 
superior  to  any  system  of  public  instruction,  (with  pos- 
sibly a  single  exception,)  which  has  ever  been  establish- 
ed by  the  most  enlightened  states  of  the  Old  World. 
Hasty  prejudices,  against  representative  republics,  have 
been  drawn  from  the  disorders  of  the  ill-organized  de- 
mocracies of  the  ancient  world.  Terrific  examples  of 
license  and  anarchy,  in  Greece  and  Rome,  are  quoted, 
to  prove,  that  man  requires  to  be  protected  from  him- 
self, forgetting  the  profound  wisdom  wrapped  up  in 
the  familiar  inquiry,  Qwis  custodiet  ipsos  custodes  ?* 
But  to  reason  from  the  states  of  Greece,  to  our  consti- 

*  Who  shall  guard  the  keepers  ? 

2  E.  E. 


14  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

tutions  of  government,  is  to  be  deceived  by  schoolboy 
analogies.  From  the  first  settlement  of  New  England, 
one  of  the  most  prominent  traits  of  the  character  of  our 
population  has  been,  to  provide  and  to  diffuse  the 
means  of  education.  The  village  schoolhouse  and  the 
village  church  are  the  monuments  of  our  republican- 
ism ;  to  read,  to  write,  and  to  discuss  grave  affairs,  in 
their  primary  assemblies,  are  the  licentious  practices  of 
our  democracy. 

But,  in  this  acknowledged  result  of  our  system  of  gov- 
ernment, another  objection  is  taken  to  its  influence,  as 
far  as  literary  progress  is  concerned.  It  is  urged,  that, 
though  it  may  be  the  effect  of  our  institutions,  to  excite 
the  mind  of  the  people,  they  excite  it  too  much  in  a 
political  direction ;  that  the  division  and  subdivision  of 
the  Country  into  states  and  districts,  and  the  equal  dif- 
fusion of  political  privileges  and  powers  among  the  whole 
population,  and  the  constant  recurrence  of  elections, 
however  favorable  to  civil  liberty,  are  unfriendly  to 
learning ;  that  they  kindle  only  a  political  ambition  ; 
and  particularly,  that  they  seduce  the  aspiring  youth, 
from  the  patient  and  laborious  vigils  of  the- student,  to 
plunge  prematurely  into  the  conflicts  of  the  forum. 

I  am  inclined  to  think,  that,  as  far  as  the  supposed 
facts  exist,  they  are  the  necessary  result  of  the  pres- 
ent stage  of  our  national  progress,  and  not  an  injurious 
effect  of  representative  government.  Our  system  is 
certainly  an  economical  one,  both  as  to  the  number  of 
persons  employed,  and  the  compensation  of  public  ser- 
vice. It  cannot,  therefore,  draw  more  individuals  from 
other  pursuits  into  public  life,  than  would  be  employed 
under  any  other  form  or  system  of  government ;  nor 
hold  out  stronger  inducements,  or  brighter  rewards.  It 
is  obvious,  that  the  administration  of  the  government 
of  a  country,  whether  it  be  liberal,  or  absolute,  or  mix- 
ed, is  the  first  thing  to  be  provided  for.  Some  persons 
must  be  employed  in  making  and  administering  the 
laws,  before  any  other  human  interest  can  be  attended 
to.  The  Fathers  of  Plymouth  formed  themselves  into  a 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  15 

convention,  to  organize  a  compact  of  government,  be- 
fore they  left  the  Mayflower.  This  was  natural,  wise. 
Had  they,  while  yet  on  ship-board,  talked  of  founding 
learned  societies,  or  engaged  in  the  discussion  of  philo- 
sophical problems,  it  would  have  been  insipid  pedantry. 
As  the  organization  and  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment are,  in  the  order  of  time,  the  first  of  mere  human 
concerns,  they  must  ever  retain  a  paramount  import- 
ance. Every  thing  else  must  come  in  by  opportunity ; 
this,  of  necessity,  must  be  provided  for  :  otherwise,  life 
is  not  safe,  property  is  not  secure,  and  there  is  no  per- 
manence in  the  social  institutions.  The  first  efforts, 
therefore,  of  men,  in  building  up  a  new  state,  are.  of 
necessity,  political.  But  where  else  in  the  world,  did 
the  foundation  of  the  college  ever  follow,  so  closely,  on 
that  of  the  republic,  as  in  Massachusetts  ?  In  the  early 
stages  of  society,  when  there  is  a  scanty  population,  its 
entire  force  is  required  for  administration  and  defence. 
We  are  receding  from  this  stage,  but  have  not  yet 
reached  that,  in  which  a  crowded  population  produces 
a  large  amount  of  cultivated  talent,  not  needed  for  the 
service  of  the  state. 

As  far,  then,  as  the  talent  and  activity  of  the  Coun- 
try are  at  present  called  forth,  in  a  political  direction,  it 
is  fairly  to  be  ascribed,  not  to  any  supposed  incompati- 
bility of  popular  institutions  with  the  cultivation  of  let- 
ters, but  to  the  precise  point,  in  its  social  progress, 
which  the  Country  has  reached.  A  change  of  govern- 
ment would  produce  no  change,  in  this  respect.  Can 
any  man  suppose,  other  things  remaining  the  same, 
that  the  introduction  of  an  hereditary  sovereign,  an  or- 
der of  nobility,  a  national  church,  a  standing  army,  and 
a  military  police,  would  tend  to  a  more  general  and 
more  fruitful  developement  of  mental  energy,  or  great- 
er leisure,  on  the  part  of  educated  men,  to  engage  in 
literary  pursuits?  It  is  obviously  as  impossible,  that 
any  such  effect  should  be  produced,  as  that  the  suppos- 
ed producing  cause  should  be  put  in  action,  in  this 
Country.  By  the  terms  of  the  supposition,  if  such  a 


16  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

change  were  made,  the  leading  class  of  the  community, 
the  nobles,  would  be  politicians,  by  birth  ;  as  much  tal- 
ent would  be  required  to  administer  the  state ;  as  much 
physical  activity,  to  defend  it.  If  there  were  a  class,  as 
there  probably  would  be,  in  the  horizontal  division  of 
society,  which  exists  under  such  governments,  not  tak- 
ing an  interest  in  politics,  it  would  be  that,  which,  un- 
der the  name  of  the  peasantry,  supplies,  in  most  other 
countries,  the  place  of,  perhaps,  the  most  substantial, 
uncorrupted,  and  intelligent,  population  on  earth, — the 
American  Yeomanry.  We  are  not  left  to  theory,  on 
this  point.  There  are  portions  of  the  American  Con- 
tinent, earlier  settled  than  the  United  States,  gov- 
erned, from  the  first,  by  absolute  power,  and  posses- 
sing all  the  advantages,  which  can  flow  from  what  is 
called  a  strong  government.  It  may  be  safely  left  to 
the  impartial  judgement  of  mankind,  to  compare  the 
progress,  either  of  general  intelligence,  or  of  higher  lit- 
erature, in  those  portions  of  the  Continent,  and  in  the 
United  States. 

Again,  it  cannot  be  thought  a  matter  of  little  mo- 
ment, that,  under  a  free  government,  the  cultivation  of 
letters  always  has  been,  and  unquestionably  always  will 
be,  deemed  as  honorable  a  pursuit,  as  any,  to  which  the 
attention  can  be  devoted.  Under  other  forms  of  gov- 
ernment, a  different  standard  of  respectability  exists. 
Hereditary  rank,  of  necessity,  takes  precedence  ;  and  all 
the  institutions  of  society  are  made  to  regard  the  acci- 
dents of  birth  as  more  important  than  personal  merit. 
The  choicest  spirits  of  Europe,  for  ten  generations, 
have  been  trained  up  to  the  feeling,  that  government 
and  war  are  the  only  callings,  worthy  of  noble  blood. 
In  those  foreign  countries,  where  the  political  institutions 
have  been  most  improved,  and  the  iron  yoke  of  feudalism 
most  effectually  broken,  that  is,  in  other  words,  where 
the  people  have  been  restored  to  their  rights,  we  be- 
hold, as  the  invariable  consequence,  a  proportionate  in- 
tellectual progress.  What  could  be  more  preposterous, 
than  to  attribute  this  progress  to  the  remnants  of  the 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  17 

feudal  system,  which  still  remain,  rather  than  to  the 
free  principles  and  popular  institutions  which  have  suc- 
ceeded it ;  and  to  deny  to  such  institutions,  in  their  per- 
fect organization,  in  this  Country,  a  tendency  to  produce 
the  same  happy  effects,  which  their  partial  introduction 
has  every  where  else  produced  ? 

It  cannot  but  be,  that  the  permanent  operation  of  a 
free  system  of  constitutional  and  representative  govern- 
ment, should  be  favorable  to  the  culture  of  mind,  be- 
cause it  is  itself  in  conformity  with  that  law  of  Nature, 
by  which  mind  is  distributed.  The  mental  energy  of  a 
people,  which  you  propose  to  call  out,  the  intellectual 
capacity,  which  is  to  be  cultivated  and  improved,  has 
been  equally  diffused,  throughout  the  land,  by  a  sterner 
leveller,  than  ever  marched  in  the  van  of  a  revolution, 
— the  impartial  providence  of  God.  He  has  planted 
the  germs  of  intellect,  alike  in  the  city  and  the  coun- 
try ;  by  the  beaten  way-side,  and  in  the  secluded  val- 
ley, and  solitary  hamlet.  Sterling  native  character, 
strength  and  quickness  of  mind,  the  capacity  for  bril- 
liant attainment,  are  not  among  the  distinctions,  which 
Nature  has  given,  exclusively,  to  the  higher  circles  of 
life.  Too  often,  in  quiet  times,  they  perish,  in  the  ob- 
scurity, to  which  a  false  organization  of  society  con- 
signs them.  And  the  reason  why,  in  dangerous,  con- 
vulsed, and  trying,  times,  there  generally  happens  an 
extraordinary  developement  of  talent,  unquestionably 
is,  that,  in  such  times,  whatever  be  the  nominal  form 
of  the  government,  necessity,  for  the  moment,  pro- 
claims the  Republic. 

What  happens  in  a  crisis  of  national  fortune,  under 
all  governments,  is,  in  this  respect,  the  steady  and 
natural  operation  of  our  political  institutions.  Their 
foundation,  at  last,  is  in  dear  Nature.  They  do 
not  consign  the  greater  part  of  the  social  system  to 
torpidity  and  mortification.  They  send  out  a  vital 
nerve,  to  every  member  of  the  community,  however 
remote,  by  which  it  is  brought  into  living  conjunction 
and  strong  sympathy  with  the  kindred  intellect  of  the 
2* 


18  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

nation.  They  encourage  Nature  to  perfect  her  work, 
on  the  broadest  scale.  By  providing  systems  of  uni- 
versal and  cheap  education,  they  multiply,  indefinitely, 
the  numbers  of  those  to  whom  the  path  is  opened,  for 
further  progress ;  and  thus  bring  up  remote,  shrinking, 
unpatronized  talent,  into  the  cheerful  field  of  compe- 
tition. The  practical  operation  of  popular  institutions 
of  government  provides,  in  innumerable  ways,  a  de- 
mand for  every  species  of  intellectual  effort,  not  merely 
within  the  circle  of  a  capital,  but  throughout  the  land. 
In  short,  wherever  man  has  been  placed  by  Providence, 
endowed  with  rational  capacities  of  improvement,  there 
the  genius  of  the  republic  visits  him,  with  a  voice  of 
encouragement  and  hope.  Every  day,  he  receives, 
from  the  working  of  the  social  system,  some  new  assu- 
rance, that  he  is  not  forgotten,  in  the  multitude  of  the 
people.  He  is  called  to  do  some  act,  to  assert  some 
right,  and  to  enjoy  some  privilege ;  and  he  is  elevated, 
by  this  consciousness  of  his  social  importance,  from  the 
condition  of  the  serf  or  the  peasant,  to  that  of  the  free- 
man and  the  citizen. 

In  thus  maintaining,  that  the  tendency  of  our  popu- 
lar institutions,  at  the  present  stage  of  our  national  pro- 
gress, to  excite  a  diffusive  interest  in  politics,  is  in  no 
degree  unfriendly  to  the  permanent  intellectual  im- 
provement of  the  Country,  it  is  not  intended  to  assert, 
that  the  peculiar  and  original  character  of  these  insti- 
tutions will  produce  no  corresponding  modification  of 
our  literature.  The  reverse  is,  unquestionably,  the 
fact.  It  may  safely  be  supposed,  that,  with  the  growth 
of  the  Country,  in  wealth  and  population,  as  the  vari- 
ous occasions  of  a  large,  enterprising,  and  prosperous 
community,  placed  on  the  widest  theatre  of  action  ever 
opened  to  man,  call  into  strong  action,  and  vigorous 
competition,  the  cultivated  talent  of  the  Country,  some 
peculiar  tone,  form,  and  proportion,  will  be  given  to  its 
literature,  by  the  nature  of  its  political  institutions,  and 
the  social  habits  founded  on  them.  Literature,  is  but 
a  more  perfect  communication  of  man  with  man,  and 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  19 

mind  with  mind.  It  is  the  judgement,  the  memory, 
the  imagination ;  discoursing,  recording,  or  musing 
aloud.  It  is  the  outward  expression  of  the  intellectual 
man  ;  or,  if  not  this,  it  is  poor  imitation.  What,  there- 
fore, affects  the  man,  affects  the  literature  ;  and  it  may 
be  assumed,  as  certain,  that  the  peculiarity  of  our  polit- 
ical institutions  will  be  represented  in  the  character  of 
our  intellectual  pursuits.  Government,  war,  commerce, 
manners,  and  the  stage  of  social  progress,  are  reflected 
in  the  literature  of  a  country.  No  precedent  exists,  to 
teach  us  what  direction  the  mind  will  most  decisively 
take,  under  the  strongest  excitements  to  action,  unre- 
strained by  the  power  of  government,  but  greatly  in- 
fluenced by  public  sentiment,  throughout  a  vastly-ex- 
tensive and  highly-prosperous  country,  into  which  the 
civilization  of  older  states  has  been  rapidly  transfused. 
This  condition  of  things  is,  evidently,  entirely  novel, 
and  renders  it  impossible  to  foresee,  what  garments  our 
native  muses  will  weave  to  themselves.  To  foretell  our 
literature  would  be  to  create  it.  There  was  a  time,  be- 
fore an  epic  poem,  a  tragedy,  an  historical  composition, 
or  a  forensic  harangue,  had  ever  been  produced,  by 
the  wit  of  man.  It  was  a  time  of  vast  and  powerful 
empires,  and  of  populous  and  wealthy  cities.  We 
have  no  reason  to  think,  that  any  work,  in  either  of 
those  departments  of  literature,  (with  the  exception, 
perhaps,  of  some  meager  chronicle,  which  might  be 
called  history,)  was  produced  by  the  early  Ethiopians, 
the  Egyptians,  or  the  Assyrians.  Greece  herself  had 
been  settled  a  thousand  years,  before  the  golden  age 
of  her  literature.  At  length,  the  new  and  beautiful 
forms,  in  which  human  thought  and  passion  developed 
themselves  in  that  favored  region,  sprang  up,  and  un- 
der the  excitement  of  free  political  institutions.  Before 
the  epos,  the  drama,  the  oration,  the  history,  appeared, 
it  would,  of  course,  have  been  idle  for  the  philosopher 
to  form  conjectures,  as  to  the  paths,  which  would  be 
struck  out  by  the  kindling  genius  of  the  age.  He, 
who  could  form  such  an  anticipation,  could  and  would 


20          CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

realize  it,  and  it  would  be  anticipation  no  longer. 
The  critic  is  ages  behind  the  poet.  Epic  poetry  was 
first  conceived  of,  when  the  gorgeous  vision  of  the 
Iliad,  not  in  its  full  detail  of  circumstances,  but  in  the 
dim  fancy  of  its  leading  scenes  and  bolder  features, 
burst  into  the  soul  of  Homer. 

Equally  impossible  to  execute  were  the  task  to  mark 
out,  beforehand,  the  probable  direction,  in  which  the 
intellect  of  this  Country  will  move,  under  the  influence 
of  institutions,  as  new  and  peculiar  as  those  of  Greece, 
and  so  organized,  as  to  secure  the  best  blessings  of 
popular  government,  without  the  evils  of  anarchy.  But 
if,  as  no  one  will  deny,  our  political  system  brings  more 
minds  into  action,  on  equal  terms ;  extends  the  advan- 
tages of  education,  more  equally,  throughout  the  com- 
munity ;  if  it  provide  a  prompter  and  wider  circulation 
of  thought ;  if,  by  raising  the  character  of  the  masses, 
it  swell,  to  tens  of  thousands  and  millions,  those  "  sons 
of  emulation,  who  crowd  the  narrow  strait  where  honor 
travels,"  it  would  seem  not  too  much,  to  anticipate 
new  varieties  and  peculiar  power  in  the  literature, 
which  is  but  the  voice  and  utterance  of  all  this  mental 
action.  The  instrument  of  communication  may  receive 
improvement ;  the  written  and  spoken  language  acquire 
new  vigor ;  possibly,  forms  of  address  wholly  new  will 
be  devised.  Where  great  interests  are  at  stake,  great 
concerns  rapidly  succeeding  each  other,  depending  on 
almost  innumerable  wills,  and  yet  requiring  to  be  ap- 
prehended in  a  glance,  and  explained  in  a  word  ;  where 
movements  are  to  be  given  to  a  vast  population,  not  by 
transmitting  orders,  but  by  diffusing  opinions,  exciting 
feelings,  and  touching  the  electric  cord  of  sympathy ; 
there,  language  and  expression  will  become  intense,  and 
the  old  processes  of  communication  must  put  on  a  vigor 
and  a  directness,  adapted  to  the  condition  of  things. 

Our  Country  is  called,  as  it  is,  practical ;  but  this 
is  the  element  for  intellectual  action.  No  strongly- 
marked  and  high-toned  literature,  poetry,  eloquence, 
or  philosophy,  ever  appeared,  but  under  the  pressure  of 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  21 

great  interests,  great  enterprises,  perilous  risks,  and 
dazzling  rewards.  Statesmen,  and  warriors,  and  poets, 
and  orators,  aud  artists,  start  up  under  one  and  ihe 
same  excitement.  They  are  all  branches  of  one  stock. 
They  form,  and  cheer,  and  stimulate,  and,  what  is 
worth  all  the  rest,  understand,  each  other ;  and  it  is  as 
truly  the  sentiment  of  the  student,  in  the  recesses  of 
his  cell,  as  of  the  soldier  in  the  ranks,  which  breathes 
in  the  exclamation, 

"  To  all  the  sons  of  sense  proclaim, 
One  glorious  hour  of  crowded  life, 
Is  worth  an  age  without  a  name." 

Let  us  now  inquire,  how  history  and  experience  con- 
firm the  foregoing  speculations.  Here,  we  shall  be  met, 
at  the  outset,  and  reminded  of  the  splendid  patronage 
bestowed  by  strong  governments  on  literature  ;  patron- 
age of  a  kind,  which  necessarily  implies  the  centraliza- 
tion of  the  resources  of  the  state,  and  is  consequently 
inconsistent  with  a  representative  system.  We  shall 
be  told  of  the  rich  establishments,  and  liberal  pensions  ; 
of  museums  founded,  libraries  collected,  and  learned 
societies  sustained ;  by  Ptolemies,  Augustuses,  and  Lou- 
ises, of  ancient  and  modern  times.  Then,  we  shall  be 
directed  to  observe  the  fruit  of  this  noble  patronage,  in 
the  wonders  of  antiquarian  and  scientific  lore,  which 
it  has  ushered  into  the  world ;  the  Thesauruses  and 
Corpuses,  from  which  the  emulous  student,  who  would 
understand  all  things,  recoils  in  horror,  and  in  the  con- 
templation of  which,  meek-eyed  Patience  folds  her 
hands,  in  despair. 

When  we  have  reflected  on  these  things,  and  turn 
our  thoughts  back  to  our  poor  republican  land ;  to  our 
frugal  treasuries,  and  the  caution  with  which  they  are 
dispensed ;  to  our  modest  private  fortunes,  and  the 
thrift  with  which  they  are,  of  necessity,  hoarded ;  to 
our  scanty  public  libraries,  and  the  plain  brick  walls 
within  which  they  are  deposited ; — we  may  be  apt  to 
form  gloomy  auguries  of  the  influence  of  free  political 
institutions  on  letters.  Here,  then,  we  might,  with  ad- 


5W  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

vantage,  perhaps,  scrutinize  the  real  character  of  this 
vaunted  patronage,  and  inquire  what  it  has  actually 
done  for  the  pure  original  literature  of  any  people. 
How  much  was  unfruitful  pomp  and  display,  and  how 
much  mere  favoritism ;  and  of  the  expensive  literary 
enterprises,  to  which  I  have  alluded,  how  many  may  bu 
compared  to  the  Pyramids ; — stupendous  monuments 
of  labor  and  power,  of  little  value  to  the  eye  of  taste, 
and  of  no  benefit  to  man. 

But  let  us  examine,  more  carefully,  the  experience 
of  former  ages,  and  see  how  far  their  political  institu- 
tions, as  they  have  been  more  or  less  popular,  have 
been  more  or  less  productive  of  intellectual  excellence. 
When  we  make  this  examination,  we  shall  be  gratified 
to  find,  that  the  precedents  are  all  in  favor  of  liberty. 
The  greatest  efforts  of  human  genius  have  been  made, 
where  the  nearest  approach  to  free  institutions  has  ta- 
ken place.  There  shone  not  forth  one  ray  of  intellec- 
tual light,  to  cheer  the  long  and  gloomy  ages  of  the 
Memphian  and  Babylonian  despots.  Not  an  historian, 
not  an  orator,  not  a  poet,  as  has  been  already  observed, 
is  heard  of  in  their  annals.  When  you  ask,  what  was 
achieved  by  the  generations  of  thinking  beings, — the 
millions  of  men,  whose  natural  genius  was  as  bright  as 
that  of  the  Greeks,  nay,  who  forestalled  the  Greeks,  in 
the  first  invention  of  many  of  the  arts, — you  are  told, 
that  they  built  the  pyramids  of  Memphis,  the  temples 
of  Thebes,  the  tower  of  Babylon  ;  and  carried  Sesostris 
and  Ninus  upon  their  shoulders,  from  the  West  of  Af- 
rica to  the  Indus.  Mark  the  contrast,  in  Greece.  With 
the  first  emerging  of  that  country,  into  the  light  of  po- 
litical liberty,  the  poerns  of  Homer  appear.  Some 
centuries,  alike  of  political  confusion  and  literary  dark- 
ness, follow,  and  then  the  great  constellation  of  their 
geniuses  seems  to  rise  at  once.  The  stormy  eloquence 
and  the  deep  philosophy,  the  impassioned  drama  and 
the  grave  history,  were  all  produced  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  the  "  fierce  democratic"  of  Athens. 

Here,  then,  the  genial  influence  of  liberty  on  letters, 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  "  23 

is  strongly  put  to  the  test.  Athens  was  certainly  a 
free  state  ;  free  to  licentiousness,  free  to  madness.  The 
rich  were  arbitrarily  pillaged,  to  defray  the  public  ex- 
penses ;  the  great  were  banished,  to  appease  the  en- 
vy of  their  rivals ;  the  wise  sacrificed  to  the  fury  of 
the  populace.  It  was  a  state,  in  short,  where  liberty 
existed,  with  most  of  the  imperfections,  which  have 
sometimes  led  the  desponding  to  love  and  praise  des- 
potism. Still,  however,  it  was  for  this  lawless,  merciless 
people,  that  the  most  chaste  and  accomplished  litera- 
ture, which  the  world  has  known,  was  produced.  The 
philosophy  of  Plato  was  the  attraction,  which  drew  the 
young  men  of  this  factious  city  to  a  morning's  walk  in 
the  olive  gardens  of  the  academy.  Those  tumultuous 
assemblies  of  Athens,  which  rose  in  their  wrath,  and  to 
a  man,  and  clamored  for  the  blood  of  Phocion,  required 
to  be  addressed  in  the  elaborate  and  thrice-repeated 
orations  of  Demosthenes. 

No !  the  noble  and  elegant  arts  of  Greece  grew 
up  in  no  Augustan  age.  They  enjoyed  neither  royal 
nor  imperial  patronage.  Unknown,  before,  in  the 
world,  strangers  on  the  Nile  and  on  the  Euphrates, 
they  sprang,  at  once,  into  life,  in  a  region  not  unlike 
our  own  New  England, — iron-bound,  sterile,  but  free. 
The  imperial  astronomers  of  Chaldrea  went  up  al- 
most to  the  stars,  in  their  observatories ;  but  it  was 
a  Greek,  who  first  foretold  an  eclipse,  and  measured 
the  year.  Some  happy  genius  in  the  East  invented 
the  alphabet,  but  not  a  line  has  reached  us  of  profane 
literature,  in  any  of  their  languages ;  and  it  is  owing 
to  the  embalming  power  of  Grecian  genius,  that  the 
invention  itself  has  been  transmitted  to  the  world.  The 
Egyptian  architects  could  erect  structures,  which,  after 
three  thousand  years,  are  still  standing,  in  their  un- 
couth original  majesty ;  but  it  was  only  on  the  barren 
soil  of  Attica,  that  the  beautiful  columns  of  the  Parthe- 
non and  the  Theseum  could  rest,  which  are  standing  also. 

With  the  decline  of  liberty  in  Greece,  began  the 
decline  of  her  letters  and  her  arts,  though  her  tumul- 


24  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

tuous  democracies  were  succeeded  by  liberal  and  ac- 
complished princes.  Compare  the  literature  of  the  Al- 
exandrian, with  that  of  the  Periclean  age ;  how  cold, 
pedantic,  and  imitative  !  Compare,  I  will  not  say,  the 
axes,  the  eggs,  the  altars,  and  the  other  frigid  devices 
of  the  pensioned  wits  in  the  museum  at  Alexandria,  but 
compare  their  best  productions,  with  those  of  indepen- 
dent Greece  ;  Callimachus  with  Pindar,  Lycophron  with 
Sophocles,  Aristophanes  of  Byzantium  with  Aristotle, 
and  Apollonius  the  Rhodian  with  Homer.  When  we 
descend  to  Rome,  to  the  Augustan  age,  the  famed  era 
of  Maecenas,  we  find  one  uniform  work  of  imitation, 
often  of  translation.  The  choicest  spirits  seldom  rise 
beyond  a  happy  transfusion  of  the  Grecian  masters. 
Horace  translates  Alcaeus,  Terence  translates  Menander, 
Lucretius  translates  Epicurus,  Virgil  translates  Homer, 
and  Cicero,  I  had  almost  said,  translates  Demosthenes 
and  Plato.  But  the  soul  of  liberty  did  burst  forth  from 
the  lips  of  Cicero ;  "  her  form  had  not  yet  lost  all  its 
original  brightness ;"  her  inspiration  produced  in  him 
the  only  specimens  of  a  purely  original  literature,  which 
the  Romans  have  transmitted  to  us.  After  him,  their 
literary  history  is  written  in  one  line  of  Tacitus ;  Glis- 
cente  adulatione,  magna  ingenia  deterrebantur.*  The 
fine  arts  revived,  a  little,  under  the  princes  of  the  Fla- 
vian house,  but  never  rose  higher  than  a  successful 
imitation  of  the  waning  excellence  of  Greece,  executed 
by  her  fugitive  artists.  With  the  princes  of  this  line, 
the  arts  of  Rome  expired,  and  Constantino  the  Great 
was  obliged  to  tear  down  an  arch  of  Trajan  for  sculp- 
tures, to  adorn  his  own.  Finally,  a  long  period  of 
military  and  barbarous  despotism  succeeded,  which 
buried  letters  and  arts  in  one  grave  with  national  inde- 
pendence. 

In  modern  times,  the  question,  as  to  the  distinct 
effect  of  political  institutions  on  learning,  has  become 
greatly  complicated,  in  consequence  of  the  large  num- 
ber of  separate  states,  into  which  the  civilized  world  is 

*  As  adulation  increased,  great  minds  were  deterred. 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  25 

divided,  and  the  easy  and  rapid  communication  between 
them.  The  consequence  is,  that  a  powerful  impulse, 
given  to  mind  in  one  country,  under  the  influence  of 
causes  favorable  to  its  progress,  may  be  felt,  to  some 
extent,  in  other  countries,  where  no  such  causes  exist. 
Upon  the  whole,  however,  the  history  of  modern  liter- 
ature bears  but  cold  testimony  to  the  genial  influence 
of  the  governments,  under  which  it  has"  grown  up. 
Dante  and  Petrarch  composed  their  beautiful  works  in 
exile ;  Boccaccio  complains,  in  the  most  celebrated  of 
his,  that  he  was  transfixed  with  the  darts  of  envy  and 
calumny ;  Machiavelli  was  pursued  by  the  party  of 
the  Medici,  for  resisting  their  tyrannical  designs  ;  Guic- 
ciardini  retired,  in  disgust,  to  compose  his  history,  in 
voluntary  exile ;  Galileo  confessed,  in  the  prisons  of  the 
Inquisition,  that  the  earth  did  not  move ;  Ariosto  lived 
in  poverty ;  and  Tasso,  the  victim  of  dejection  and 
despair.*  Cervantes,  after  he  had  immortalized  him- 
self, in  his  great  work,  was  obliged  to  write  on,  for 
bread.  The  whole  French  Academy  was  pensioned, 
to  crush  the  great  Corneille.  Racine,  after  living  to 
see  his  finest  pieces  derided,  as  cold  and  worthless, 
died  of  a  broken  heart.  The  divine  genius  of  Shak- 
speare  owed  but  little  to  patronage,  for  it  raised  him  to 
no  higher  rank  than  that  of  a  subaltern  actor  in  his 
own,  and  Ben  Jonson's  plays.  The  immortal  Bacon 
made  disastrous  wreck  of  his  greatness,  in  a  court, 
and  is  said,  (falsely  I  trust,)  to  have  begged  a  cup  of 
beer,  in  his  old  age,  and  begged  it  in  vain.  The  most 
valuable  of  the  pieces  of  Selden  were  written  in  that 
famous  resort  of  great  minds,  the  tower  of  London. 
Milton,  surprised  by  want,  in  his  infirm  old  age,  sold 
one  of  the  first  productions  of  the  human  mind  for  five 
pounds.  The  great  boast  of  English  philosophy  was 
expelled  from  his  place,  in  Oxford,  and  kept  in  banish- 
ment, "  the  King  having  been  given  to  understand,"  to 
use  the  words  of  Lord  Sunderland,  who  ordered  the 

*  Martinelli,  in  his  edition  of  the  Decamerone,  cited  in  the  Introduc 
tion  to  Sidney's  Discourses  on  Government,  edition  of  1751,  p.  34. 
3  E.  E. 


20  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

expulsion,  "  that  one  Locke  has,  upon  several  occasions, 
behaved  himself  very  factiously  against  the  government." 
Dryden  was  compelled  to  sacrifice  his  genius,  to  the 
spur  of  immediate  want.  Otway  was  choked  with  a 
morsel  of  bread,  too  ravenously  swallowed,  after  a  long 
fast.  Johnson  was  taken  to  prison,  for  a  debt  of  five 
shillings ;  and  Burke  petitioned  for  a  professorship  at 
Glasgow,  and  was  denied.  When  we  consider  these 
facts,  and  the  innumerable  others  of  which  these  are  a 
specimen,  we  may  probably  be-  led  to  the  conclusion, 
that  the  appearance  of  eminent  geniuses,  under  the 
forms  of  government  subsisting  in  Europe,  furnishes  no 
decisive  proof  that  they  are  the  most  friendly  to  intel- 
lectual progress. 

II.  The  next  circumstance,  worthy  of  mention,  as 
peculiarly  calculated  to  promote  the  progress  of  im 
provement,  and  to  furnish  motives  to  intellectual  exer 
tion,  in  this  Country,  is  the  extension  of  one  government, 
one  language,  and,  substantially,  one  character,  over  so 
vast  a  space  as  the  United  States  of  America.  Hith- 
erto, in  the  main,  the  world  has  seen  but  two  forms  of 
political  government,  free  governments  in  small  states, 
and  arbitrary  governments  in  large  ones.  Though  va- 
rious shades  of  both  have  appeared,  at  different  times, 
in  the  world,  yet,  on  the  whole,  the  political  ingenuity 
of  man  has  never  before  devised  the  method  of  extend- 
ing purely  popular  institutions,  beyond  small  districts, 
or  of  governing  large  states,  by  any  other  means  than 
military  power.  The  consequence  has  been,  that  the 
favorable  effect  of  free  institutions,  on  intellectual  prog- 
ress, has  never  been  developed,  on  the  largest  scale. 
But,  though  favorable  to  the  improvement  of  the  mind, 
under  any  circumstances,  it  is  evident,  that,  in  order  to 
their  full  effect,  in  bringing  forth  the  highest  attainable 
excellence,  they  must  be  permanently  established,  in  an 
extensive  region  and  over  a  numerous  people.  Such 
is  the  state  of  things  existing  in  this  Country,  and  for  the 
first  time  in  the  world,  and  for  which  we  are.indebted  to 
the  fearless  application  of  the  representative  principle. 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  27 

The  effect  upon  literature  must  eventually  be,  to  give 
elevation,  dignity,  and  generous  expansion,  to  every 
species  of  mental  effort.  A  great  nationality  is  the  pa- 
rent of  great  thoughts.  Literature  is  the  voice  of  the 
age  and  of  the  state.  The  extent,  the  resources,  the 
destiny,  of  the  Country  are  imaged  forth  in  the  concep- 
tion of  its  leading  minds.  They  are  but  the  organs  of 
the  race  from  which  they  are  descended,  the  land  in 
which  they  live,  and  the  patriotic  associations  under 
which  they  have  been  educated.  These  furnish  their 
language  and  elevate  their  thoughts.  Under  an  im- 
pulse like  the  prophetic  enthusiasm  of  old,  they  feel 
and  utter  the  sentiments,  which  are  inspired  by  the  sys- 
tem of  which  they  are  the  members.  As  the  mind 
goes  forth,  to  enter  into  communion  or  conflict  with 
millions  of  kindred  spirits,  over  a  mighty  realm,  it  di- 
lates, with  a  noble  consciousness  of  its  vocation.  It 
disdains  mean  thoughts,  and  looks  down  on  narrow  in- 
terests :  and  strives  to  speak  a  noble  word,  which  will 
touch  the  heart  of  a  great  people. 

This  necessary  connexion  between  the  extent  of  a 
country,  and  its  intellectual  progress,  was,  it  is  true,  of 
more  importance  in  antiquity,  than  it  is  at  the  present 
day,  because,  at  that  period  of  the  world,  owing  to  po- 
litical causes,  on  which  we  have  not  time  to  dwell, 
there  was,  upon  the  whole,  but  one  civilized  and  culti- 
vated people,  at  a  time,  upon  the  stage ;  and  the  mind 
of  one  nation  found  no  sympathy,  and  derived  no  aid, 
from  the  mind  of  another.  Art  and  refinement  followed 
in  the  train  of  political  ascendancy,  from  the  East  to 
Greece,  and  from  Greece  to  Rome.  In  the  modern 
world,  a  combination  of  political,  intellectual,  and  even 
mechanical,  causes,  (for  the  art  of  printing  is  among  the 
most  powerful  of  them,)  has  produced  an  extension  of 
the  highest  civilization,  over  a  large  family  of  states, 
existing  contemporaneously,  in  Europe  and  America. 
This  circumstance  might  seem  to  mould  the  civilized 
portion  of  mankind  into  one  republic  of  letters ;  and 
make  it,  comparatively,  a  matter  of  indifference  to  anv 


28  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

individual  mind,  whether  its  lot  was  cast  in  a  small  or 
a  large,  a  weak  or  a  powerful,  state.  It  must  be  free- 
ly admitted,  that  this  is,  to  some  extent,  the  case ;  and 
it  is  one  of  the  great  advantages  of  the  modern  over  the 
ancient  civilization.  And  yet,  a  singular  fatality  im- 
mediately presents  itself,  to  neutralize,  in  a  great  de- 
gree, the  beneficial  effects  of  this  enlarged  and  diffused 
civilization  on  the  progress  of  letters  in  any  single  state. 
It  is  true,  that,  instead  of  one  sole  country,  as  in  antiq- 
uity, where  the  arts  and  refinements  find  a  home,  there 
are,  in  modern  Europe,  seven  or  eight,  equally  entitled 
to  the  general  name  of  cultivated  nations,  and  in  each 
of  which,  some  minds  of  the  first  order  have  appeared. 
And  yet,  by  the  multiplication  of  languages,  an  obsta- 
cle, all  but  insuperable,  has  been  thrown  in  the  way  of 
the  free  progress  of  genius,  in  its  triumphant  course, 
from  region  to  region.  The  muses  of  Shakspeare  and 
Milton,  of  Camoens,  of  Lope  de  Vega  and  Calderon, 
of  Corneille  and  Racine,  of  Dante  and  Tasso,  of  Goethe 
and  Schiller,  are  comparative  strangers  to  each  other. 
Certainly  it  is  not  intended,  that  these  illustrious  minds 
are  unknown  beyond  the  limits  of  the  lands,  in  which 
they  were  trained,  and  to  which  they  spoke.  But  who 
is  ignorant,  that,  not  one  of  them  finds  a  full  and  hearty 
response,  from  any  other  people  but  his  own  ;  nay,  who 
does  not  know,  that  the  writings  of  some  of  them  are 
a  sealed  book,  except  to  those  who  read  them  in  the 
mother  tongue  ? 

This  evil  was  so  keenly  felt,  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries,  that  the  Latin  language  was 
widely  adopted  as  a  dialect  common  to  scholars.  We 
see  men  like  Luther,  Calvin,  Erasmus,  Bacon,  and 
Grotius,  who  could  scarce  have  written  a  line,  with- 
out exciting  the  admiration  of  their  contemporaries, 
driven  to  the  use  of  a  tongue,  which  none  but  the 
learned  could  understand.  For  the  sake  of  addres- 
sing the  scholars  of  other  countries,  these  great  men, 
and  others  like  them,  in  many  of  their  writings,  were 
willing  to  cut  themselves  off,  from  all  sympathy  with 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  29 

the  mass  of  those,  whom,  as  patriots,  they  must  have 
wished  most  to  instruct.  In  works  of  pure  science 
and  learned  criticism,  this  is  of  the  less  consequence ; 
for,  being  independent  of  sentiment,  it  matters  less, 
how  remote  from  real  life,  the  symbols  by  which  their 
ideas  are  conveyed.  But,  when  we  see  a  writer,  like 
Milton,  who,  as  much  as  any  other,  whom  England 
has  ever  produced,  was  a  master  of  the  music  of  his 
native  tongue ;  who,  besides  all  the  beauty  of  thought 
and  imagery,  knew  better  than  most  other  men,  how  to 
breathe  forth  his  thoughts  and  images, 

"  In  notes,  with  many  a  winding  bout, 
Of  linked  sweetness,  long  drawn  out, 
With  wanton  heed  and  giddy  cunning, 
The  melting  voice  through  mazes  running, 
Untwisting  all  the  chains  that  tie 
The  hidden  soul  of  harmony  ;" 

when  we  see  a  master  of  English  eloquence,  thus  gifted, 
choosing  a  dead  language, — the  dialect  of  the  closet,  a 
tongue  without  an  echo  from  the  hearts  of  the  people, — 
as  the  vehicle  of  his  defence  of  that  people's  rights ; 
asserting  the  cause  of  Englishmen  in  the  language,  as 
it  may  be  truly  called,  of  Cicero  ;  we  can  only  measure 
the  incongruity,  by  reflecting  what  Cicero  would  him- 
self have  thought  and  felt,  if  called  to  defend  the  cause 
of  Roman  freedom,  not  in  the  language  of  the  Roman 
citizen,  but  in  that  of  the  Chaldeans  or  Assyrians,  or 
some  people  still  further  remote  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  And  yet,  Milton  could  not  choose  but  employ 
this  language ;  for  he  felt  that  in  this,  and  this  alone, 
he  could  speak  the  word,  "  with  which  all  Europe  rang 
from  side  to  side." 

There  is  little  doubt,  that  the  prevalence  of  the  Latin 
language,  among  modern  scholars,  was  a  great  cause, 
not  only  of  the  slow  progress  of  letters,  among  the  lower 
ranks,  but  of  the  stiffness  and  constraint  of  the  vernac- 
ular style  of  most  scholars  themselves,  in  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries.  That  the  reformation  in 
religion  advanced  with  such  rapidity  is,  in  no  small  de- 
3* 


dl)  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

gree,  to  be  attributed  to  the  translations  of  the  Scrip- 
tures and  the  use  of  liturgies,  in  the  modern  tongues. 
The  preservation,  in  legal  acts,  in  England,  of  a  strange 
language, — I  will  not  offend  the  majesty  of  Rome,  by 
calling  it  Latin, — down  to  so  late  a  period  as  1730, 
may  be  one  reason,  why  the  practical  forms  of  admin- 
istering justice  have  not  been  made  to  keep  pace  with 
the  progress  of  reform,  in  some  other  departments. 
With  the  establishment  of  popular  institutions,  under 
Cromwell,  among  various  other  legal  improvements,* 
very  many  of  which  were  speedily  adopted  by  our 
plain-dealing  forefathers,  the  records  of  the  law  were 
ordered  to  be  kept  in  English ;  "  A  novelty,"  says  the 
learned  commentator  on  the  English  laws,  "  which,  at 
the  Restoration,  was  no  longer  continued,  practisers 
having  found  it  very  difficult  to  express  themselves  so 
concisely  or  significantly  in  any  other  language  but 
Latm."t 

Nor  are  the  other  remedies  more  efficacious,  which 
have  been  attempted  for  the  evil  of  a  multiplicity  of 
tongues.  Something  is  done  by  translations,  and  some- 
thing by  the  study  of  foreign  languages.  But  that  no 
effectual  transfusion  of  the  higher  literature  of  a  coun- 
try can  take  place,  in  the  way  of  translation,  is  matter 
of  notoriety ;  and  it  is  a  remark  of  one  of  the  few,  who 
could  have  courage  to  make  such  a  remark,  Madame 
de  Stael,  that  it  is  impossible,  fully  to  comprehend  the 
literature  of  a  foreign  tongue.  The  general  preference, 
till  lately,  given  to  Young's  Night  Thoughts  and  Os- 
sian,  over  all  the  other  English  poets,  in  many  parts  of 
the  continent  of  Europe,  seems  to  confirm  the  justice 
of  the  observation. 

There  is,  indeed,  an  influence  of  exalted  genius,  co- 
extensive with  the  earth.  Something  of  its  power  will 
be  felt,  in  spite  of  the  obstacles  of  different  languages, 
remote  regions,  and  other  times.  But  its  true  empire, 

*  See  a  number  of  them,  in  Lord  Somers's  Tracts,  Vol.  I. 
t  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  Vol.  III.  p.  422. 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  31 

its  sovereign  sway,  must  be  felt  at  home,  and  over  the 
hearts  of  kindred  men.  A  charm,  which  nothing  can 
borrow,  nothing  counterfeit,  and  for  which  there  is  no 
substitute,  dwells  in  the  simple  sound  of  our  mother 
tongue.  Not  analyzed,  nor  reasoned  upon,  it  unites 
the  simple  associations  of  early  life  with  the  maturest 
conceptions  of  the  understanding.  The  heart  is  willing 
to  open  all  its  avenues  to  the  language,  in  which  its  in- 
fantile caprices  were  soothed ;  and,  by  the  curious  effi- 
cacy of  the  principle  of  association,  it  is  this  echo  from 
the  feeble  dawn  of  life,  which  gives  to  eloquence  much 
of  its  manly  power,  and  to  poetry  much  of  its  divine 
charm.  This  intelligence  of  the  import  of  our  native 
language,  is  the  first  intellectual  capacity  that  is  devel- 
oped in  children,  and  when,  by  age  or  misfortune, 

"  the  ear  is  all  unstrung, 
Still,  still,  it  loves  the  lowland  tongue." 

What  a  noble  prospect  is  opened,  in  this  connexion, 
for  the  circulation  of  thought  and  sentiment  in  our  coun- 
try !  Instead  of  that  multiplicity  of  dialect,  by  which 
mental  communication  and  sympathy  between  different 
nations  are  cut  off  in  the  Old  World,  a  continually  ex- 
panding realm  is  opened  to  American  intellect,  in  the 
community  of  our  language,  throughout  the  wide  spread 
settlements  of  this  Continent.  The  enginery  of  the 
press  is  here,  for  the  first  time,  brought  to  bear,  with 
all  its  mighty  power,  on  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men, 
in  exchanging  intelligence,  and  circulating  opinions,  un- 
checked by  diversity*  of  language,  over  an  empire  more 
extensive  than  the  whole  of  Europe. 

And  this  community  of  language,  all  important  as  it 
is,  is  but  a  part  of  the  manifold  brotherhood,  which  al- 
ready unites  the  growing  millions  of  America.  In  Eu- 
rope, the  work  of  international  alienation,  which  begins 
in  diversity  of  language,  is  consummated  by  diversity  of 
government,  institutions,  national  descent,  and  nation- 
al prejudices.  In  crossing  the  principal  rivers,  channels, 
and  mountains,  in  that  quarter  of  the  world,  you  are 


32  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

met,  not  only  by  new  tongues,  but  by  new  forms  of  gov- 
ernment, new  associations  of  ancestry,  new  and  often 
hostile  objects  of  national  pride  and  attachment.  While, 
on  the  other  hand,  throughout  the  vast  regions  included 
within  the  limits  of  our  republic,  not  only  the  same 
language,  but  the  same  laws,  the  same  national  govern- 
ment, the  same  republican  institutions,  and  common 
ancestral  associations  prevail.  Mankind  will  here  ex- 
ist and  act  in  a  kindred  mass,  such  as  was  scarcely 
ever  before  congregated  on  the  earth's  surface.  The 
necessary  consequences  of  such  a  cause  overpower  the 
imagination.  What  would  be  the  effect,  on  the  intel- 
lectual state  of  Europe,  at  the  present  day,  were  all  her 
nations  and  tribes  amalgamated  into  one  vast  empire, 
speaking  the  same  tongue,  united  into  one  political  sys- 
tem, and  that  a  free  one,  and  opening  one  broad,  unob- 
structed pathway  for  the  interchange  of  thought  and 
feeling,  from  Lisbon  to  Archangel  ?  If  effects  must 
bear  a  constant  proportion  to  their  causes  ;  if  the  ener- 
gy of  thought  is  to  be  commensurate  with  the  masses 
which  prompt  it,  and  the  masses  it  must  penetrate  ;  if 
eloquence  is  to  grow  in  fervor  with  the  weight  of  the 
interests  it  is  to  plead,  and. the  grandeur  of  the  assem- 
blies it  addresses ;  if  efforts  rise  with  the  glory  that  is 
to  crown  them ;  in  a  word,  if  the  faculties  of  the  human 
mind,  as  we  firmly  believe,  are  capable  of  tension  and 
achievement  altogether  indefinite ; 

Nil  actum  reputans,  dum  quid  superesset  agendum  ;* 

then,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  a  new  era  will  open 
on  the  intellectual  world,  in  the  fulfilment  of  our  Coun- 
try's prospects. 

By  the  sovereign  efficacy  of  the  partition  of  pow- 
ers between  the  National  and  State  governments,  in 
virtue  of  which  the  National  government  is  relieved 
from  all  the  odium  of  internal  administration,  and  the 
State  governments  are  spared  the  conflicts  of  foreign 
politics,  all  bounds  seem  removed  from  the  possible  ex- 

*  "  Thinking  nought  done,  while  aught  remains  to  do." 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  33 

tension  of  our  country,  but  the  geographical  limits  of 
the  continent.  Instead  of  growing  cumbrous,  as  it 
increases  in  size,  there  never  was  a  moment,  since 
the  first  settlement  in  Virginia,  when  the  political  sys- 
tem of  America  moved  with  so  firm  and  bold  a  step, 
as  at  the  present  day.  Should  our  happy  Union  con- 
tinue, this  great  continent,  in  no  remote  futurity,  will 
be  filled  up  with  a  homogeneous  population  ;  with  the 
mightiest  kindred  people  known  in  history;  our  lan- 
guage will  acquire  an  extension,  which  no  other  ever 
possessed ;  and  the  empire  of  the  mind,  with  nothing 
to  resist  its  sway,  will  attain  an  expansion,  of  which, 
as  yet,  we  can  but  partly  conceive.  The  vision  is  too 
magnificent  to  be  fully  borne ; — a  mass  of  two  or  three 
hundred  millions,  not  chained  to  the  oar,  like  the  same 
number  in  China,  by  a  stupefying  despotism,  but  held 
in  their  several  orbits  of  nation  and  state,  by  the  grand 
representative  attraction ;  bringing  to  bear,  on  every 
point,  the  concentrated  energy  of  such  a  host ;  calling 
into  competition  so  many  minds ;  uniting,  into  one 
great  national  feeling,  the  hearts  of  so  many  freemen ; 
all  to  be  guided,  persuaded,  moved,  and  swayed,  by  the 
master  spirits  of  the  time ! 

III.  Let  me  not  be  told  that  this  is  a  chimerical  im- 
agination of  a  future  indefinitely  removed ;  let  me  not 
hear  repeated  the  poor  jest  of  an  anticipation  of  "  two 
thousand  years," — of  a  vision,  that  requires  for  its  ful- 
filment, a  length  of  ages  beyond  the  grasp  of  any  rea- 
sonable computation.  It  is  the  last  point  of  peculiarity 
in  our  condition,  to  which  I  invite  your  attention,  as 
affecting  the  progress  of  intellect,  that  the  country  is 
growing,  with  a  rapidity,  hitherto  entirely  without  ex- 
ample in  the  world.  For  the  two  hundred  years  of  our 
existence,  the  population  has  doubled  itself  in  periods 
of  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  In  the  infancy  of 
the  country,  and  while  our  numbers  remained  within  the 
limits  of  a  youthful  colony,  a  progress  so  rapid  as  this, 
however  important,  in  the  principle  of  growth  disclosed, 
was  not  yet  a  circumstance  strongly  to  fix  the  attention. 


34  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

But,  arrived  at  a  population  of  ten  millions,  it  is  a 
fact  of  extreme  interest,  that,  within  less  than  twenty- 
five  years,  these  ten  millions  will  have  swelled  to  twen- 
ty ;  that  the  younger  members  of  this  audience  will  be 
citizens  of  the  largest  civilized  state  on  earth  ;  that,  in 
a  few  years  more  than  one  century,  the  American  pop- 
ulation will  equal  the  fabulous  numbers  of  the  Chinese 
empire.  This  rate  of  increase  has  already  produced 
the  most  striking  phenomena.  A  few  weeks  after  the 
opening  of  the  Revolutionary  drama,  at  Lexington,  the 
momentous  intelligence,  that  the  first  blood  was  spilt, 
reached  a  party  of  hunters  beyond  the  Alleghanies,  who 
had  wandered  far  into  the  western  wilderness.  In  pro- 
phetic commemoration  of  the  glorious  event,  they  gave 
the  name  of  Lexington  to  the  spot  of  their  encampment 
in  the  woods.  That  spot  is  now  the  capital  of  a  State 
as  large  as  Massachusetts  ;  from  which,  in  the  language 
of  one  of  her  own  citizens,  whose  eloquence  is  the 
ornament  of  his  country,  the  tide  of  emigration,  still 
further  westward,  is  more  fully  pouring,  than  from  any 
other  in  the  Union.* 

I  need  not  say,  that  this  astonishing  increase  of  num- 
bers is  by  no  means  the  best  measure  of  our  country's 
growth.  Arts,  agriculture,  all  the  great  national  inter- 
ests, all  the  sources  of  national  wealth,  are  growing  in  a 
ratio  still  more  rapid.  In  our  cities,  the  intensest  activ- 
ity is  apparent ;  in  the  country,  every  spring  of  pros- 
perity, from  the  smallest  improvement  in  husbandry,  to 
the  constructions  of  canals  and  rail-roads  across  the  con- 
tinent, is  in  vigorous  action.  Abroad,  our  vessels  are 
beating  the  pathways  of  the  ocean  white  ;  on  the  inland 
frontier,  the  nation  is  journeying  on,  like  a  healthy  gi- 
ant, with  a  pace  more  like  romance,  than  reality. 

These  facts,  and  thousands  like  them,  form  one  of 
those  peculiarities  in  our  country's  condition,  which  will 
have  the  most  powerful  influence  on  the  minds  of  its 
children.  The  population  of  some  of  the  states  of  Eu- 

*  Mr.  Clay's  Speech  on  Internal  Improvement. 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  35 

rope  has  reached  its  term.  In  some,  it  is  declining,  in 
some  stationary  ;  and  in  the  most  prosperous,  under  the 
extraordinary  impulse  of  the  last  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  it  doubles  itself  but  about  once  in  seventy-five 
years.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  process  of  social 
transmission  is  heavy  and  slow.  Men,  not  adventitiously 
favored,  come  late  into  life,  and  the  best  years  of  exist- 
ence are  exhausted  in  languishing  competition.  The 
man  grows  up,  and,  in  the  stern  language  of  one  of 
their  most  renowned  economists,*  finds  no  cover  laid 
for  him,  at  Nature's  table.  The  smallest  official  provis- 
ion is  a  boon,  at  which  great  minds  are  not  ashamed 
to  grasp ;  the  assurance  of  the  most  frugal  subsistence, 
commands  the  brightest  talents,  and  the  most  laborious 
studies  ;  poor  wages  pay  for  the  unremitted  labor  of  the 
most  curious  hands ;  and  it  is  the  smallest  part  of  the 
population,  only,  that  is  within  the  reach  even  of  these 
humiliating  springs  of  action. 

We  need  not  labor  to  contrast  this  state  of  things  with 
the  teeming  growth  and  rapid  progress  of  our  own  Coun- 
try. Instead  of  being  shut  up,  as  it  were,  in  the  pris- 
on of  a  stationary,  or  a  slowly  progressive,  community, 
the  emulation  of  our  countrymen  is  drawn  out  and 
tempted  on,  by  an  horizon  constantly  receding  before 
them.  New  nations  of  kindred  freemen  are  springing 
up,  in  successive  periods,  shorter,  even,  than  the  ac- 
tive portion  of  the  life  of  man.  "  While  we  spend  our 
time,"  says  Burke,  on  this  topic,  "  in  deliberating  on 
the  mode  of  governing  two  millions  in  America,  we 
shall  find  we  have  millions  more  to  manage."!  Many 
individuals  are  in  this  house,  who  were  arrived  at  years 
of  discretion,  when  these  words  of  Burke  were  uttered, 
and  the  two  millions,  which  Great  Britain  was  then  to 
manage,  have  grown  into  ten,  exceedingly  unmanage- 
able. The  most  affecting  view  of  this  subject  is,  that  it 
puts  it  in  the  power  of  the  wise,  and  good,  and  great,  to 

*  Mr.  Malthas. 

t  Speech  on  Conciliation  with  America,  March  22,  1775. 


36  CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

gather,  while  they  live,  the  ripest  fruits  of  their  labors. 
Where,  in  human  history,  is  to  be  found  a  contrast,  like 
that,  which  the  last  fifty  years  have  crowded  into  the 
lives  of  those  favored  men,  who,  raising  their  hands  or 
their  voices,  when  our  little  bands  were  led  out  to  the 
perilous  conflict  with  one  of  the  most  powerful  empires 
on  earth,  have  lived  to  be  crowned  with  the  highest 
honors  of  the  Republic,  which  they  established  ?  Hon- 
or to  their  gray  hairs,  and  peace  and  serenity  to  the  eve- 
ning of  their  eventful  days  ! 

Though  it  may  never  again  be  the  fortune  of  our 
country  to  bring  within  the  compass  of  half  a  century 
a  contrast  so  dazzling  as  this,  yet,  in  its  grand  and 
steady  progress,  the  career  of  duty  and  usefulness  will 
be  run  by  all  its  children,  under  a  constantly  increas- 
ing excitement.  The  voice,  which,  in  the  morning  of 
life,  shall  awaken  the  patriotic  sympathy  of  the  land, 
will  be  echoed  back,  by  a  community,  incalculably 
swelled,  in  all  its  proportions,  before  that  voice  shall  be 
hushed  in  death.  The  writer,  by  whom  the  noble  fea- 
tures of  our  scenery  shall  be  sketched,  with  a  glowing 
pencil,  the  traits  of  our  romantic  early  history  gathered 
up,  with  filial  zeal,  and  fhe  peculiarities  of  our  character 
seized,  with  delicate  perception,  cannot  mount  so  rap- 
idly to  success,  but  that  ten  years  will  add  new  millions 
to  the  numbers  of  his  readers.  The  American  states- 
man, the  orator,  whose  voice  is  already  heard  in  its 
supremacy,  from  Florida  to  Maine,  whose  intellectual 
empire  already  extends  beyond  the  limits  of  Alexan- 
der's, has  yet  new  states  and  new  nations  starting  into 
being,  the  willing  subjects  of  his  sway. 

This  march  of  our  population,  westward,  has  been 
attended  with  consequences,  in  some  degree  novel,  in 
the  history  of  the  human  mind.  It  is  a  fact,  somewhat 
difficult  of  explanation,  that  the  refinement  of  the  an- 
cient nations  seemed  comparatively  devoid  of  an  elas- 
tic and  expansive  principle.  With  the  exception  of  the 
colonies  in  Asia  Minor,  the  arts  of  Greece  were  en- 
chained to  her  islands  and  her  coasts ;  they  did  not 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  37 

penetrate  the  interior,  at  least,  not  in  every  direction. 
The  language  and  literature  of  Athens  were  as  much 

o       o 

unknown,  to  the  north  of  Pindus,  at  a  distance  of  two 
hundred  miles  from  the  capital  of  Grecian  refinement, 
as  they  were  in  Scythia.  Thrace,  whose  mountain  tops 
may  almost  be  seen  from  the  porch  of  the  temple  of 
Minerva,  at  Sunium,  was  the  proverbial  abode  of  barbar- 
ism. Though  the  colonies  of  Greece  were  scattered 
on  the  coasts  of  Asia,  of  Italy,  of  France,  of  Spain,  and 
of  Africa,  no  extension  of  their  population,  far  inward, 
took  place,  and  the  arts  did  not  penetrate  beyond  the 
walls  of  the  cities,  where  they  were  cultivated. 

How  different  is  the  picture  of  the  diffusion  of  the 
arts  and  improvements  of  civilization,  from  the  coast  to 
the  interior  of  America !  Population  advances  west- 
ward, with  a  rapidity,  which  numbers  may  describe,  in- 
deed, but  cannot  represent,  with  any  vivacity,  to  the 
mind.  The  wilderness,  which  one  year  is  impassable,  is 
traversed,  the  next,  by  the  caravans  of  the  industrious 
emigrants,  who  go  to  follow  the  setting  sun,  with  the 
language,  the  institutions,  and  the  arts,  of  civilized  life. 
It  is  not  the  irruption  of  wild  barbarians,  sent  to  visit 
the  wrath  of  God  on  a  degenerate  empire  ;  it  is  not  the 
inroad  of  disciplined  banditti,  marshalled  by  the  in- 
trigues of  courts  and  kings.  It  is  the  human  family, 
led  out  to  possess  its  broad  patrimony.  The  states 
and  nations,  which  are  springing  up  in  the  valley  of  the* 
Missouri,  are  bound  to  us,  by  the  dearest  ties  of  a  com- 
mon language,  a  common  government,  and  a  common 
descent.  Before  New  England  can  look  with  coldness 
on  their  rising  myriads,  she  must  forget  that  some  of 
the  best  of  her  own  blood  is  beating  in  their  veins  ;  that 
her  hardy  children,  with  their  axes  on  their  shoulders, 
have  been  among  the  pioneers,  in  this  march  of  human- 
ity ;  that,  young  as  she  is,  she  has  become  the  mother 
of  populous  states.  What  generous  mind  would  sac- 
rifice, to  a  selfish  preservation  of  local  preponderance, 
the  delight  of  beholding  civilized  nations  rising  up  in 
the  desert ;  and  the  language,  the  manners,  the  institu- 
4  E.  E. 


38 

tions,  to  which  he  has  been  reared,  carried,  with  his 
household  gods,  to  the  foot  of  the  Rocky  Mountains? 
Who  can  forget,  that  this  extension  of  our  territorial 
limits  is  the  extension  of  the  empire  of  all  we  hold  dear  ; 
of  our  laws,  of  our  character,  of  the  memory  of  our 
ancestors,  of  the  great  achievements  in  our  history? 
Whithersoever  the  sons  of  the  thirteen  States  shall 
wander,  to  southern  or  western  climes,  they  will  send 
back  their  hearts  to  the  rocky  shores,  the  battle  fields, 
the  infant  settlements,  of  the  Atlantic  coast.  These  are 
placed  beyond  the  reach  of  vicissitude.  They  have  be- 
come already  matter  of  history,  of  poetry,  of  eloquence. 

Divisions  may  spring  up,  ill  blood  may  burn,  parties 
be  formed,  and  interests  may  seem  to  clash ;  but  the 
great  bonds  of  the  nation  are  linked  to  what  is  passed. 
The  deeds  of  the  great  men,  to  whom  this  Country 
owes  its  origin  and  growth,  are  a  patrimony,  I  know, 
of  which  its  children  will  never  deprive  themselves. 
As  long  as  the  Mississippi  and  the  Missouri  shall  flow, 
those  men,  and  those  deeds,  will  be  remembered  on 
their  banks.  The  sceptre  of  government  may  go, 
where  it  will ;  but  that  of  patriotic  feeling  can  never 
depart  from  Judah.  In  all  that  mighty  region,  which 
is  drained  by  the  Missouri  and  its  tributary  streams, — 
the  valley  coextensive,  in  this  Country,  with  the  temper- 
ate zone, — will  there  be,  as  long  as  the  name  of  Amer- 
ica shall  last,  a  father,  that  will  not  take  his  children  on 
his  knee,  and  recount  to  them  the  events  of  the  twen- 
ty-second of  December,  the  nineteenth  of  April,  the 
seventeenth  of  June,  and  the  fourth  of  July  ? 

This,  then,  is  the  theatre,  on  which  the  intellect  of 
America  is  to  appear,  and  such,  the  motives  to  its  ex- 
ertion ;  such,  the  mass  to  be  influenced  by  its  energies ; 
such,  the  crowd  to  witness  its  efforts ;  such,  the  glory 
to  crown  its  success.  If  I  err,  in  this  happy  vision  of 
my  country's  fortunes,  I  thank  God,  for  an  error  so 
animating.  If  this  be  false,  may  I  never  know  the 
truth.  Never  may  you,  my  friends,  be  under  any  other 
feeling,  than  that  a  great,  a  growing,  an  immeasurably 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  39 

expanding,  country  is  calling  upon  you  for  your  best 
services.  The  name  and  character  of  our  Alma  Mater 
have  already  been  carried  by  some  of  our  brethren  thou- 
sands of  miles  from  her  venerable  walls ;  and  thousands 
of  miles  still  further  westward,  the  communities  of 
kindred  men  are  fast  gathering,  whose  minds  and  hearts 
will  act  in  sympathy  with  yours. 

The  most  powerful  motives  call  on  us,  as  scholars, 
for  those  efforts,  which  our  common  country  demands 
of  all  her  children.  Most  of  us  are  of  that  class,  who 
owe  whatever  of  knowledge  has  shone  into  our  minds, 
to  the  free  and  popular  institutions  of  our  native  land. 
There  are  few  of  us,  who  may  not  be  permitted  to 
boast,  that  we  have  been  reared  in  an  honest  poverty, 
or  a  frugal  competence,  and  owe  every  thing  to  those 
means  of  education,  which  are  equally  open  to  all. 
We  are  summoned  to  new  energy  and  zeal,  by  the  high 
nature  of  the  experiment  we  are  appointed  in  Provi- 
dence to  make,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  theatre  on 
which  it  is  to  be  performed.  At  a  moment  of  deep 
and  general  agitation,  in  the  old  world,  it  pleased 
Heaven  to  open  this  last  refuge  of  humanity.  The 
attempt  has  begun,  and  is  going  on,  far  from  foreign 
corruption,  on  the  broadest  scale,  and  under  the  most 
benignant  prospects ;  and  it  certainly  rests  with  us  to 
solve  the  great  problem  in  human  society ;  to  settle, 
and  that  forever,  the  momentous  question, — whether 
mankind  can  be  trusted  with  a  purely  popular  system  ? 

One  might  almost  think,  without  extravagance,  that 
the  departed  wise  and  good,  of  all  places  and  times,  are 
looking  down,  from  their  happy  seats,  to  witness  what 
shall  now  be  done  by  us  ;  that  they,  who  lavished  their 
treasures  and  their  blood,  of  old,  who  labored  and  suf- 
fered, who  spake  and  wrote,  who  fought  and  perished, 
in  the  one  great  cause  of  Freedom  and  Truth,  are  now 
hanging  from  their  orbs  on  high,  over  the  last  solemn 
experiment  of  humanity.  As  I  have  wandered  over 
the  spots,  once  the  scene  of  their  labors,  and  mused 
among  the  prostrate  columns  of  their  Senate  Houses 


40          CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

and  Forums,  I  have  seemed  almost  to  hear  a  voice, 
from  the  tombs  of  departed  ages ;  from  the  sepulchres 
of  the  nations,  which  died  before  the  sight.  They 
exhort  us,  they  adjure  us,  to  be  faithful  to  our  trust. 
They  implore  us,  by  the  long  trials  of  struggling  hu- 
manity ;  by  the  blessed  memory  of  the  departed  :  by 
the  dear  faith,  which  has  been  plighted  by  pure  hands, 
to  the  holy  cause  of  truth  and  man ;  by  the  awful 
secrets  of  the  prison  houses,  where  the  sons  of  freedom 
have  been  immured ;  by  the  noble  heads  which  have 
been  brought  to  the  block ;  by  the  wrecks  of  time,  by 
the  eloquent  ruins  of  nations,  they  conjure  us  not  to 
quench  the  light  which  is  rising  on  the  world.  Greece 
cries  to  us,  by  the  convulsed  lips  of  her  poisoned,  dy- 
ing Demosthenes ;  and  Rome  pleads  with  us,  in  the 
mute  persuasion  of  her  mangled  Tully.  They  address 
us,  each  and  all,  in  the  glorious  appeal  of  Milton,  to 
one,  who  might  have  canonized  his  memory  in  the 
hearts  of  the  friends  of  liberty,  but  who  did  most 
shamefully  betray  the  cause  :  "  Reverere  tantam  de  te 
expectationem,  spem  patrioe  de  te  unicam.  Reverere 
•vultus  et  vulnera  tot  fortium  virorum,  quotquot  pro 
libertate  tarn  strenue  decertarunt,  manes  etiarn  eorum 
qui  in  ipso  certamine  occubuerunt.  Reverere  exterarum 
quoque  civitatum  existimationem  de  te  atque  sermones  ; 
quantas  res  de  libertate  nostra  tarn  fortiter  parta,  de  nos- 
tra republica  tarn  gloriose  exorta  sibi  polliceantur  ;  quae 
si  tarn  cito  quasi  aborta  evanuerit,  profecto  nihil  seque 
dedecorosum  huic  genti  atque  periculosum  fuerit."* 

Yes,  my  friends,  such  is  the  exhortation,  which  calls 
on  us  to  exert  our  powers,  to  employ  our  time,  and 

*Have  regard  to  the  expectations  which  are  formed  of  you,  to  the 
singular  hope  which  your  Country  reposes  in  your  character.  Rever- 
ence the  countenances  and  the  wounds  of  so  many  brave  men,  who 
have  thus  strenuously  fought  for  liberty,  yea,  the  memory  of  those, 
who  have  fallen  in  the  contest.  Respect  the  judgement  and  the  lan- 
guage of  foreign  nations,  concerning  you  ;  the  lofty  anticipations  which 
they  have  cherished  of  our  liberty,  so  bravely  achieved,  and  of  our 
commonwealth,  so  nobly  established  ;  which,  if  destined  so  rapidly  to 
perish,  as  an  untimely  birth,  truly  there  could  be  nothing  equally  dis- 
graceful and  perilous  for  this  people. — Milton's  Defensio  Secunda. 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  41 

consecrate  our  labors,  in  the  cause  of  our  native  land. 
When  we  engage  in  that  solemn  study,  the  history  of 
our  race ;  when  we  survey  the  progress  of  man,  from 
his  cradle  in  the  East,  to  these  limits  of  his  wandering ; 
when  we  behold  him  forever  flying  westward  from  civil 
and  religious  thraldom,  over  mountains  and  seas,  seeking 
rest  and  finding  none,  but  still  pursuing  the  flying  bow 
of  promise,  to  the  glittering  hills  which  it  spans  in  Hes- 
perian climes,  we  cannot  but  exclaim,  with  Bishop 
Berkeley,  the  generous  prelate  of  England,  who  be- 
stowed his  benefactions,  as  well  as  blessings,  on  our 
Country ; 

"Westward  the  course  of  Empire  takes  its  way  ; 

The  four  first  acts  already  past, 
A  fifth  shall  close  the-drama  with  the  day  ; 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last." 

In  that  high  romance,  if  romance  it  be,  in  which  the 
great  minds  of  antiquity  sketched  the  fortunes  of  the 
ages  to  come,  they  pictured  to  themselves  a  favored  re- 
gion beyond  the  ocean  ;  a  land  of  equal  laws  and  happy 
men.  The  primitive  poets  beheld  it,  in  the  Islands  of 
the  Blest ;  the  Doric  bards  fancied  it,  in  the  Hyperbo- 
rean regions ;  the  Sage  of  the  Academy  placed  it  in 
the  lost  Atlantis  ;  and  even  the  sterner  spirit  of  Seneca 
could  discern  a  fairer  abode  of  humanity,  in  distant 
regions  then  unknown.  We  look  back  upon  these 
uninspired  predictions,  and  almost  recoil  from  the  obli- 
gation they  imply.  By  us  must  these  bright  dreams  be 
realized,  by  us  must  be  fulfilled  these  high  visions,  which 
burst  in  trying  hours  upon  the  longing  hearts  of  the 
champions  of  truth.  There  are  no  more  continents  or 
worlds  to  be  revealed ;  Atlantis  hath  arisen  from  the 
ocean ;  the  furthest  Thule  is  reached ;  there  are  no 
more  retreats  beyond  the  sea,  no  more  .discoveries,  no 
more  hopes. 

Here,  then,  a  mighty  work  is  to  be  performed,  or  nev- 
er, by  the  race  of  mortals.  The  man,  who  looks  with 
tenderness  on  the  sufferings  of  good  men  in  other 
times ;  the  descendant  of  the  Pilgrims,  who  cherishes 
4* 


42          CIRCUMSTANCES  FAVORABLE  TO 

the  memory  of  his  fathers ;  the  patriot,  who  feels  an 
honest  glow  at  the  majesty  of  the  system  of  which  he 
is  a  member ;  the  scholar,  who  beholds,  with  rapture, 
the  long-sealed  book  of  truth  opened  for  all  to  read 
without  prejudice ;  these  are  they,  by  whom  these 
auspices  are  to  be  accomplished.  Yes,  brethren,  it  is 
by  the  intellect  of  the  country,  that  the  mighty  mass 
is  to  be  inspired ;  that  its  parts  are  to  communicate  and 
sympathize  with  each  other,  its  natural  progress  to  be 
adorned  with  becoming  refinements,  its  strong  sense 
uttered,  its  principles  asserted,  its  feelings  interpreted 
to  its  own  children,  to  other  regions,  and  to  after  ages. 
Meantime,  the  years  are  rapidly  passing  away  and 
gathering  importance  in  their  course.  With  the  pres- 
ent year,  [1824,]  will  be  completed  the  half  century 
from  that  most  important  era  in  human  history, — the 
commencement  of  our  Revolutionary  War.  The  jubi- 
lee of  our  national  existence  is  at  hand.  The  space 
of  time,  that  has  elapsed,  since  that  momentous  date, 
has  laid  down  in  the  dust,  which  the  blood  of  many 
of  them  had  already  hallowed,  most  of  the  great  men 
to  whom,  under  Providence,  we  owe  our  national  ex- 
istence and  privileges.  A  few  still  survive  among  us, 
to  reap  the  rich  fruits  of  their  labors  and  sufferings ; 
and  ONE*  has  yielded  himself  to  the  united  voice  of  a 
people,  and  returned,  in  his  age,  to  receive  the  grati- 
tude of  the  nation,  to  whom  he  devoted  his  youth.  It 
is  recorded,  on  the  pages  of  American  history,  that 
when  this  friend  of  our  country  applied  to  our  commis- 
sioners, at  Paris,  in  1776,  for  a  passage  in  the  first  ship 
they  should  despatch  to  America,  they  were  obliged 
to  answer  him,  (so  low  and  abject  was  then  our  dear 
native  land,)  that  they  possessed  not  the  means,  nor 
the  credit,  sufficient  for  providing  a  single  vessel,  in  all 
the  ports  of  France.  "  Then,"  exclaimed  the  youthful 
hero,  "  I  will  provide  my  own  ;"  and  it  is  a  literal  fact, 
that,  when  all  America  was  too  poor,  to  offer  him  so 

*  General  Lafayette  was  present,  at  the  delivery  of  this  Address. 


LITERARY  IMPROVEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  43 

much  as  a  passage  to  her  shores,  he  left,  in  his  tender 
youth,  the  bosom  of  home,  of  happiness,  of  wealth,  of 
rank,  to  plunge  in  the  dust  and  blood  of  our  inauspicious 
struggle ! 

Welcome,  friend  of  our  fathers,  to  our  shores !  Hap- 
py are  our  eyes,  that  behold  those  venerable  features  ! 
Enjoy  a  triumph,  such  as  never  conqueror  nor  monarch 
enjoyed,  the  assurance,  that,  throughout  America,  there 
is  not  a  bosom,  which  does  not  beat  with  joy  and  grati- 
tude, at  the  sound  of  your  name  !  You  have  already 
met  and  saluted,  or  will  soon  meet,  the  few  that  remain, 
of  the  ardent  patriots,  prudent  counsellors,  and  brave 
warriors,  with  whom  you  were  associated,  in  achieving 
our  liberty.  But  you  have  looked  round,  in  vain,  for 
the  faces  of  many,  who  would  have  lived  years  of  pleas- 
ure on  a  day  like  this,  with  their  old  companion  in 
arms  and  brother  in  peril.  Lincoln,  and  Greene,  and 
Knox,  and  Hamilton,  are  gone  ;  the  heroes  of  Saratoga 
and  Yorktown  have  fallen,  before  the  enemy  that  con- 
quers all.  Above  all,  the  first  of  heroes  and  of  men, 
the  friend  of  your  youth,  the  more  than  friend  of  his 
Country,  rests  in  the  bosom  of  the  soil  he  redeemed. 
On  the  b(anks  of  his  Potomac,  he  lies  in  glory  and  in 
peace.  You  will  revisit  the  hospitable  shades  of  Mount 
Vernon,  but  him,  whom  you  venerated  as  we  did,  you 
will  not  meet  at  its  door.  His  voice  of  consolation, 
which  reached  you  in  the  dungeons  of  Olmutz,  cannot 
now  break  its  silence,  to  bid  you  welcome  to  his  own 
roof.  But  the  grateful  children  of  America  will  bid 
you  welcome,  in  his  name.  Welcome !  thrice  wel- 
come !  to  our  shores !  and  whithersoever,  throughout 
the  limits  of  the  continent,  your  course  shall  take  you, 
the  ear  that  hears  you  shall  bless  you,  the  eye  that  sees 
you  shall  give  witness  to  you,  and  every  tongue  ex- 
claim, with  heartfelt  joy,  Welcome !  welcome.  La 
Fayette ! 


44  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.* 

AMIDST  all  the  proud  and  grateful  feelings,  which  the 
return-of  this  anniversary  must  inspire,  in  the  bosom  of 
every  child  of  New  England,  a  deep  solicitude  oppres- 
ses me,  lest  I  should  fail  in  doing  justice  to  the  men 
and  to  the  events,  which  we  are  met  to  commemorate. 
This  solicitude,  I  would  hope,  is  no  mere  personal  feel- 
ing. I  should  be  unworthy  to  address  you,  on  this  oc- 
casion, could  I,  from  the  selfish  desire  of  winning  your 
applause,  devote  the  moments  of  this  consecrated  day  to 
any  cold  speculations,  however  ingenious  or  original. 
Gladly  would  I  give  utterance  to  the  most  familiar  com- 
monplaces, could  I  be  so  happy  in  doing  it,  as  to  excite 
or  strengthen  the  feelings,  which  belong  to  the  time  and 
the  place.  Gladly  would  I  repeat  to  you  those  senti- 
ments, which  have  been  so  often  uttered  and  welcomed 
on  this  anniversary ;  sentiments,  whose  truth  does  not 
change  in  the  change  of  circumstances ;  whose  power 
does  not  wear  out  with  time.  It  is  not  by  pompous  epi- 
thets or  lively  antitheses,that  the  exploits  of  the  Pilgrims 
are  to  be  set  forth  by  their  children.  We  can  only  do 
this  worthily,  by  repeating  the  plain  tale  of  their  suffer- 
ings, by  dwelling  on  the  circumstances,  under  which 
their  memorable  enterprise  was  executed,  and  by  catch- 
ing that  spirit,  which  led  them  across  the  ocean,  and 
guided  them  to  the  spot  where  we  stand.  We  need  no 
voice  of  artificial  rhetoric,  to  celebrate  their  names.  The 
bleak  and  deathlike  desolation  of  Nature  proclaims, 
with  touching  eloquence,  the  fortitude  and  patience  of 
the  meek  adventurers.  On  the  bare  and  wintry  fields 
around  us,  their  exploits  are  written,  in  characters, 
which  will  last,  and  tell  their  tale  to  posterity,  when 
brass  and  marble  have  crumbled  into  dust. 

*  Oration  delivered  at  Plymouth,  December,  22,  1824. 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  45 

The  occasion,  which  has  called  us  together,  is  cer- 
tainly one,  to  which  no  parallel  exists,  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  Other  countries  have  their  national  festi- 
vals. They  commemorate  the  birthdays  of  their  illus- 
trious children ;  they  celebrate  the  foundation  of  im- 
portant institutions.  Momentous  events,  victories,  ref- 
ormations, revolutions,  awaken,  on  their  anniversaries, 
the  grateful  and  patriotic  feelings  of  posterity.  But  we 
commemorate  the  birthday  of  all  New  England ;  the 
foundation,  not  of  one  institution,  but  of  all  the  institu- 
tions, the  settlements,  the  communities,  the  societies, 
the  improvements,  comprehended  within  our  broad  and 
favored  borders. 

Were  it  only  as  an  act  of  rare  adventure  ;  were  it  a 
trait  in  foreign,  or  ancient  history ;  we  should  fix  upon 
the  achievement  of  our  fathers,  as  one  of  the  ndblest 
deeds,  in  the  annals  of  the  world.  Were  we  attracted 
to  it,  by  no  other  principle,  than  that  sympathy  we  feel, 
in  all  the  fortunes  of  our  race,  it  could  lose  nothing,  it 
must  gain,  in  the  contrast,  with  whatever  history  or  tra- 
dition has  preserved  to  us  of  the  wanderings  and  settle- 
ments of  the  tribes  of  man.  A  continent,  for  the  first 
time,  effectually  explored ;  a  vast  ocean,  tra versed  by 
men,  women,  and  children,  voluntarily  exiling  them- 
selves from  the  fairest  portions  of  the  Old  World ;  and 
a  great  nation  grown  up,  in  the  space  of  two  centuries, 
on  the  foundations,  so  perilously  laid,  by  this  pious 
band  : — point  me  to  the  record,  to  the  tradition,  nay,  to 
the  fiction,  of  any  thing,  that  can  enter  into  competition 
with  it.  It  is  the  language,  not  of  exaggeration,  but 
of  truth  and  soberness,  to  say,  that  there  is  nothing,  in 
the  accounts  of  Phoenician,  of  Grecian,  or  of  Roman 
colonization,  that  can  stand  in  the  comparison. 

What  new  importance,  then,  does  not  the  achieve- 
ment acquire  for  us,  when  we  consider,  that  it  was  the 
deed  of  our  fathers ;  that  this  grand  undertaking  was 
accomplished  on  the'  spot  where  we  dwell ;  that  the 
mighty  region,  they  explored,  is  our  native  land ;  that 
the  unrivalled  enterprise,  they  displayed,  is  not  merely 


46  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

a  fact,  proposed  to  our  admiration,  but  is  the  source  of 
our  being ;  that  their  cruel  hardships  are  the  spring  of 
our  prosperity  ;  that  their  weary  banishment  gave  us  a 
home  ;  that  to  their  separation  from  every  thing  which 
is  dear  and  pleasant  in  life,  we  owe  all  the  comforts, 
the  blessings,  the  privileges,  which  make  our  lot  the 
envy  of  mankind ! 

These  are  the  wellknown  titles  of  our  ancestors,  to 
our  gratitude  and  veneration. 

But  there  seems  to  me  this  peculiarity,  in  the  na- 
ture of  their  enterprise,  that  its  grand  and  beneficent 
consequences  are,  with  the  lapse  of  time,  constantly 
unfolding  themselves,  in  an  extent,  and  to  a  magnitude, 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  most  sanguine  promise.  In 
the  frail  condition  of  human  affairs,  we  have  often 
nothing  left  us  to  commemorate,  but  heroic  acts  of  val- 
or, which  have  resulted  in  no  permanent  effect ;  great 
characters,  that  have  struggled  nobly,  but  in  vain, 
against  the  disastrous  combinations  of  the  times  ;  and 
brilliant  triumphs  of  truth  and  justice,  rendered,  for 
the  present,  unproductive,  by  untoward  and  opposite 
events.  It  is  almost  the  peculiar  character  of  the  en- 
terprise of  our  pilgrim  forefathers, — successful,  indeed, 
in  its  outset, — that  it  has  been  more  and  more  success- 
ful, at  every  subsequent  point,  in  the  line  of  time. 
Accomplishing  all  they  projected ;  what  they  project- 
ed was  the  least  part  of  what  has  been  accomplished. 
Forming  a  design,  in  itself  grand,  bold,  and  even  ap- 
palling, for  the  risks  and  sacrifices  it  required ;  the  ful- 
filment of  that  design  is  the  least  thing,  which,  in  the 
steady  progress  of  events,  has  flowed  from  their  coun- 
sels and  their  efforts.  Did  they  propose  to  themselves 
a  refuge,  beyond  the  sea,  from  the  religious  and  politi- 
cal tyranny  of  Europe  ?  They  achieved  not  that,  alone, 
but  they  have  opened  a  wide  asylum  to  all  the  victims 
of  oppression  throughout  the  world.  We,  ourselves, 
have  seen  the  statesmen,  the  generals,  the  kings,  of  the 
elder  world,  flying,  for  protection,  to  the  shadow  of  our 
institutions.  Did  they  look  for  a  retired  spot,  inoffen- 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  47 

sive  for  its  obscurity,  and  safe  in  its  remoteness,  where 
the  little  church  of  Leyden  might  enjoy  the  freedom  of 
conscience  ?  Behold  the  mighty  regions,  over  which,  in 
peaceful  conquest, — victoi'ia  sine  clade,* — they  have 
borne  the  banners  of  the  cross  !  Did  they  seek,  beneath 
the  protection  of  trading  charters,  to  prosecute  a  fru- 
gal commerce,  in  reimbursement  of  the  expenses  of  their 
humble  establishment  ?  The  fleets  and  navies  of  their 
descendants  are  on  the  furthest  ocean  ;  and  the  wealth 
of  the  Indies  is  now  wafted,  with  every  tide,  to  the 
coasts,  where,  with  hook  and  line,  they  painfully  gath- 
ered up  their  humble  earnings.  In  short,  did  they,  in 
their  brightest  and  most  sanguine  moments,  contemplate 
a  thrifty,  loyal,  and  prosperous,  colony,  portioned  off, 
like  a  younger  son  of  the  imperial  household,  to  an 
humble  and  dutiful  distance  ?  Behold  the  spectacle  of 
an  independent  and  powerful  Republic,  founded  on  the 
shores,  where  some  of  those  are  but  lately  deceased, 
who  saw  the  first-born  of  the  pilgrims ! 

And  shall  we  stop  here  ?  Is  the  tale  now  told  ;  is 
the  contrast  now  complete ;  are  our  destinies  all  fulfill- 
ed ;  are  we  declining,  or  even  stationary  ?  My  friends, 
I  tell  you,  we  have  but  begun ;  we  are  in  the  very 
morning  of  our  days ;  our  numbers  are  but  a  unit ; 
our  national  resources,  but  a  pittance ;  our  hopeful 
achievements  in  the  political,  the  social,  and  the  intel- 
lectual, nature,  are  but  the  rudiments  of  what  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Pilgrims  must  yet  attain.  If  there  is  any 
thing  certain,  in  the  principles  of  human  and  social 
progress ;  if  there  is  any  thing  clear  in  the  deductions 
from  past  history ;  if  there  is  any,  the  least,  reliance  to 
be  placed  on  the  conclusions  of  reason,  in  regard  to  the 
nature  of  man, — the  existing  spectacle  of  our  country's 
growth,  magnificent  as  it  is,  does  not  suggest  even  an 
idea  of  what  it  must  be.  I  dare  adventure  the  predic- 
tion, that  he,  who,  two  centuries  hence,  shall  stand 
where  I  stand,  and  look  back  on  our  present  condition, 

*  Conquest  without  slaughter. 


48  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

from  a  distance,  equal  to  that  from  which  we  contem- 
plate the  first  settlement  of  the  Pilgrims,  will  sketch  a 
contrast  far  more  astonishing;  and  will  speak  of  our 
times,  as  the  day  of  small  things,  in  stronger  and  juster 
language,  than  any  in  which  we  can  depict  the  poverty 
and  wants  of  our  fathers. 

But  we  ought  to  consecrate  this  day,  not  to  the 
promise,  nor  even  the  present  blessings,  of  our  condi- 
tion, except  so  far  as  these  are  connected  with  the 
memory  of  the  Pilgrims.  The  twenty-second  of  De- 
cember belongs  to  them ;  and  we  ought,  in  consisten- 
cy, to  direct  our  thoughts  to  the  circumstances,  under 
which  their  most  astonishing  enterprise  was  achieved. 
I  shall  hope  to  have  contributed  my  mite  towards  our 
happy  celebration,  if  I  can  succeed  in  pointing  out  a 
few  of  those  circumstances,  of  the  first  emigration  to 
our  country,  and  particularly  of  the  first  emigration  to 
New  England,  from  which,  under  a  kind  Providence, 
has  flowed,  not  only  the  immediate  success  of  the 
undertaking,  but  the  astonishing  train  of  consequen- 
ces, auspicious  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  humanity,  and 
truth. 

I.  Our  forefathers  regarded,  with  natural  terror,  the 
passage  of  the  mighty  deep.  Navigation,  notwith- 
standing the  great  advances  which  it  had  made  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  was  yet,  comparatively  speaking,  in 
its  infancy.  The  very  fact,  that  voyages  of  great  length 
and  hazard  were  successfully  attempted,  in  small  vessels, 
(a  fact,  which,  on  first  view,  might  seem  to  show  a  high 
degree  of  perfection  in  the  art,)  in  reality  proves,  that  it 
was  as  yet  but  imperfectly  understood.  That  the  great 
Columbus  should  put  to  sea,  for  the  discovery  of  a  new 
passage  across  the  Western  Ocean  to  India,  with  two 
out  of  three  vessels  unprovided  with  decks,  may,  indeed, 
be  considered  the  effect,  not  of  ignorance  of  the  art  of 
navigation,  but  of  bitter  necessity.  But  that  Sir  Fran- 
cis Drake,  near  a  hundred  years  afterwards,  the  first 
naval  commander  who  ever  sailed  round  the  earth,  en- 
joying the  advantage  of  the  royal  patronage,  and  aided 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  49 

by  the  fruits  of  no  little  personal  experience,  should 
have  embarked  on  his  voyage  of  circumnavigation,  with 
five  vessels,  of  which  the  largest  was  of  one  hundred, 
and  the  smallest  of  fifteen,  tons,*  must  be  regarded 
as  proof,  that  the  art  of  navigation,  in  the  genera- 
tion preceding  our  ancestors,  had  not  reached  that 
point,  where  the  skilful  adaptation  of  means  to  ends 
supersedes  the  necessity  of  extraordinary  intrepidity, 
aided  by  not  less  extraordinary  good  fortune.  It  was, 
therefore,  the  first  obstacle,  which  presented  itself  to 
the  project  of  the  Pilgrims,  that  it  was  to  be  carried 
into  execution,  across  the  ocean,  which  separates  our 
continent  from  the  rest  of  the  world.  Notwithstanding, 
however,  this  circumstance,  and  the  natural  effect  it 
must  have  had  on  their  minds,  there  is  no  doubt,  that 
it  is  one  of  those  features,  in  our  natural  situation,  to 
which  America  is  indebted,  not  merely  for  the  imme- 
diate success  of  the  enterprise  of  settlement,  but  for 
much  of  its  subsequent  prosperity. 

The  rest  of  the  world,  though  nominally  divided  into 
three  continents,  in  reality  consists  of  but  one.  Eu- 
rope, Asia,  and  Africa,  are  separated  by  no  natural 
barriers,  which  it  has  not  been  easy,  in  every  age,  for 
an  ambitious  invader  to  pass.  The  consequence  has 
been,  on  the  whole,  unfavorable  to  social  progress. 
The  extent  of  country,  inhabited,  or  rather  infested,  by 
barbarous  tribes,  has  always  far  outweighed  the  civil- 
ized portions.  More  than  once,  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  refinement,  learning,  arts,  laws,  and  religion, 
with  the  wealth  and  prosperity  they  have  created,  have 
been  utterly  swept  away,  and  the  hands  moved  back, 
on  the  dial-plate  of  time,  in  consequence  of  the  irrup- 
tion of  savage  hordes  into  civilized  regions.  Were  the 
early  annals  of  the  East,  as  amply  preserved,  as  those 
of  the  Roman  empire,  they  would,  probably,  present 
us  with  accounts  of  revolutions  on  the  Nile,  and  the 
Euphrates,  as  disastrous  as  those,  by  which  the  civil- 

*  Biographia  Britannica,  III.  1732. 

5  E.  E, 


50  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

ized  world  was  shaken,  in  the  first  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era.  Till  an  ocean  interposes  its  mighty 
barrier,  no  region  is  secure  from  foreign  violence.  The 
magnificent  temples  of  Egypt  were  demolished,  in  the 
sixth  century  before  our  Saviour,  by  the  hordes,  which 
Cambyses  had  collected  from  the  steppes  of  Central 
Asia.  The  vineyards  of  Burgundy  were  wasted,  in  the 
third  century  of  our  era,  by  roving  savages,  from  beyond 
the  Caucasus.  In  the  thirteenth  century,  Gengis  Khan 
and  his  Tartars  swept  Europe  and  Asia,  from  the  Bal- 
tic to  the  China  Sea.  And  Ionia  and  Attica,  the  gar- 
dens of  Greece,  are  still,  under  the  eyes  of  the  leading 
Christian  powers  of  Europe,  beset  by  remorseless  bar- 
barians, whose  fathers  issued,  a  few  centuries  ago,  from 
the  Altai  Mountains. 

Nor  is  it  the  barbarians,  alone,  who  have  been  tempt- 
ed, by  this  facility  of  communication,  to  a  career  of 
boundless  plunder.  The  Alexanders  and  the  Caesars, 
the  Charlemagnes  and  the  Napoleons,  the  founders  of 
great  empires,  the  aspirers  at  universal  monarchy,  have 
been  enabled,  by  the  same  circumstance,  to  turn  the 
annals  of  mankind  into  a  tale  of  war  and  misery.  When 
we  descend  to  the  scrutiny  of  single  events,  we  find  that 
the  nations,  who  have  most  frequently  and  most  imme- 
diately suffered,  have  been  those,  most  easily  approached 
and  overrun ;  and  that  those,  who  have  longest  or  most 
uniformly  maintained  their  independence,  have  done  it, 
by  virtue  of  lofty  mountains,  wide  rivers,  or  the  sur- 
rounding sea. 

In  this  state  of  things,  the  three  united  continents  of 
the  Old  World  do  not  contain  a  single  spot,  where  any 
grand  scheme  of  human  improvement  could  be  attempt- 
ed, with  a  prospect  of  fair  experiment  and  full  success, 
because  there  is  no  spot,  safe  from  foreign  interference  ; 
and  no  member  of  the  general  system,  so  insignificant, 
that  his  motions  are  not  watched,  with  jealousy,  by  all 
the  rest.  The  welfare  and  progress  of  man,  in  the  most 
favored  region,  instead  of  proceeding,  in  a  free  and 
natural  course,  dependent  on  the  organization  and  con- 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  51 

dition  of  that  region  alone,  can  only  reach  the  point, 
which  may  be  practicable  in  the  general  result  of  an 
immensely-complicated  system,  made  up  of  a  thousand 
jarring  members. 

Our  country  accordingly  opened,  at  the  time  of  its 
settlement,  and  still  opens,  a  new  theatre  of  human  de- 
velopement.  Notwithstanding  the  prodigious  extent 
of  commercial  intercourse,  and  the  wide  grasp  of  naval 
power,  among  modern  states,  and  their  partial  effect 
in  bringing  us  into  the  political  system  of  Europe,  we 
are  yet  essentially  strangers  to  it ;  placed  at  a  distance 
which  retards,  and  for  every  injurious  purpose,  neutral- 
izes, all  peaceful  communication,  and  defies  all  hostile 
approach.  To  this,  it  was  owing,  that  so  little  was 
here  felt  of  the  convulsions  of  the  civil  wars,  which  fol- 
lowed in  England,  soon  after  the  emigration  of  our  fa- 
thers. To  this,  in  a  more  general  view,  we  are  indebt- 
ed, for  many  of  our  peculiarities  as  a  nation ;  for  our 
steady  colonial  growth,  our  establishment  of  indepen- 
dence, our  escape  amidst  the  political  storms,  which, 
during  the  last  thirty  years,  have  shaken  the  empires 
of  the  earth.  To  this,  we  shall  still  be  indebted,  and 
more  and  more,  with  the  progress  of  our  Country, 
for  the  originality  and  stability  of  national  character. 
Hitherto,  the  political  effects  of  our  seclusion,  behind 
the  mighty  veil  of  waters,  have  been  the  most  important. 
Now,  that  our  political  foundations  are  firmly  laid ; 
that  the  work  of  settlement,  of  colonization,  of  inde- 
pendence, and  of  union,  is  all  done,  and  happily  done, 
we  shall  reap,  in  other  forms,  the  salutary  fruits  of  our 
remoteness  from  the  centres  of  foreign  opinion  and 
feeling. 

I  say  not  this,  in  direct  disparagement  of  foreign 
states  ;  their  institutions  are  doubtless  as  good,  in  many 
cases,  as  the  condition  of  things  now  admits  ;  or,  when 
at  the  worst,  could  not  be  remedied  by  any  one  body, 
nor  by  any  one  generation,  of  men.  But,  without  dis- 
paraging foreign  institutions,  we  may  be  allowed  to  pre- 
fer our  own  ;  to  assert  their  excellence,  to  seek  to  main- 


52       FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

tain  them  on  their  original  foundations,  on  their  true 
principles,  and  in  their  unmingled  purity.  That  great 
word,  Independence,  which,  if  first  uttered  in  1776, 
was  most  auspiciously  anticipated  in  1620,  comprehends 
much  more,  than  a  mere  absence  of  foreign  jurisdiction. 
I  could  almost  say,  that  if  it  rested  there,  it  would 
scarcely  be  worth  asserting.  In  every  noble,  in  every 
true,  acceptation,  it  implies,  not  merely  an  American 
government,  but  an  American  character,  an  American 
feeling.  To  the  formation  of  these,  nothing  will  more 
powerfully  contribute,  than  our  geographical  distance 
from  other  parts  of  the  world. 

In  these  views,  there  is  nothing  unsocial ;  nothing 
hostile  to  a  friendly  and  improving  connexion  of  distant 
regions  with  each  other,  or  to  the  profitable  interchange 
of  the  commodities,  which  a  bountiful  Providence  has 
variously  scattered  over  the  earth.  For  these,  and  all 
other  desirable  ends,  the  perfection,  to  which  the  art  of 
navigation  is  brought,  affords  abundant  means  of  con- 
quering the  obstacles  of  distance.  At  this  moment,  the 
trade  of  America  has  penetrated  to  the  interior  of  Asia 
Minor,  the  plains  of  Tartary,  the  centre  of  Hindostan 
and  China,  and  the  remotest  isles  of  the  Indian  ocean. 
While  ambition  and  policy,  by  intrigue  and  bloodshed, 
are  contesting  the  possession  of  a  few  square  miles  of 
territory,  our  peaceful  commerce  has  silently  extended 
its  jurisdiction,  from  island  to  island,  from  sea  to  sea, 
from  continent  to  continent,  till  it  holds  the  globe  in  its 
grasp. 

But,  while  no  one  can  doubt  the  mutual  advantages 
of  a  judiciously-conducted  commerce,  or  be  insensible 
of  the  good,  which  has  resulted  to  the  cause  of  human- 
ity, from  the  cultivation  of  a  peaceful  and  friendly  in- 
tercourse with  other  climes,  it  is  yet  beyond  question, 
that  the  true  principle  of  American  policy,  to  which  the 
whole  spirit  of  our  institutions,  not  less  than  the  geo- 
graphical features  of  the  country,  invites  us,  is  separa- 
tion from  Europe.  Next  to  UNION  AT  HOME,  which 
ought  to  be  called,  not  so  much  the  essential  condition 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       53 

of  our  national  existence  as  our  existence  itself,  sepa- 
ration from  all  other  countries  is  the  great  principle, 
by  which  we  are  to  prosper.  It  is  toward  this,  that 
our  efforts,  public  and  private,  ought  to  tend ;  and 
we  shall  rise  or  decline  in  strength,  improvement,  and 
worth,  as  we  obey  or  violate  this  principle.  This 
is  the  voice  of  Nature,  which  did  not  in  vain  disjoin 
our  Continent  from  the  Old  World ;  nor  reserve  it, 
beyond  the  ocean,  for  fifty  centuries,  only  that  it  might 
become  a  common  receptacle  for  the  exploded  prin- 
ciples, the  degenerate  examples,  and  the  remediless 
corruptions,  of  other  states.  This  is  the  voice  of  our 
history,  which  traces  every  thing,  excellent  in  our  char- 
acter, and  prosperous  in  our  fortunes,  to  dissent,  non- 
conformity, departure,  resistance,  and  revolution.  This 
is  taught  us,  by  the  marked  peculiarity  and  essential 
novelty  which  display  themselves  in  our  whole  physical, 
political,  and  social,  existence. 

And  it  is  a  matter  of  sincere  congratulation,  that, 
under  the  healthy  operation  of  natural  causes,  very  par- 
tially accelerated  by  legislation,  the  current  of  our  pur- 
suits and  industry,  without  deserting  its  former  channels, 
is  throwing  a  broad  and  swelling  branch  into  the  interi- 
or. Foreign  commerce,  the' natural  employment  of  an 
enterprising  people,  whose  population  is  accumulated  on 
the  seacoast,  and  whose  neutral  services  were  invited  by 
a  world  in  arms,  is  daily  reverting  to  a  condition,  of 
more  equal  participation  among  the  various  maritime 
states,  and  is,  in  consequence,  becoming  less  productive 
to  any  one.  While  America  remains,  and  will  always 
remain,  among  the  foremost  commercial  and  naval 
states,  an  ample  portion  of  our  resources  has  already 
taken  a  new  direction.  We  profited  of  the  dissensions 
of  Europe,  which  threw  her  trade  into  our  hands.  We 
are  now  profiting  of  the  pacification  of  Europe,  in  the 
application  to  our  own  soil,  our  own  mineral  and  vege- 
table products,  our  water-courses  and  our  general  inter- 
nal resources,  of  a  part  ol'  the  capital  thus  accumulated. 

This  circumstance  is,  in  a  general  view,  most  gratify- 
5* 


54  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

ing ;  inasmuch  as  it  creates  a  new  bond  of  mutual  de- 
pendence, in  the  variety  of  our  natural  gifts,  and  in  the 
mutual  benefits  rendered  each  other  by  the  several  sec- 
tional interests  of  the  country.  The  progress  is  likely 
to  be  permanent  and  sure,  because  it  has  been  mainly 
brought  about  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  and  with 
little  legislative  interference.  Within  a  few  years,  what 
a  happy  change  has  taken  place !  The  substantial 
clothing  of  our  industrious  classes  is  now  the  growth 
of  the  American  soil,  and  the  texture  of  the  American 
loom ;  the  music  of  the  water-wheel  is  heard  on  the 
banks  of  our  thousand  rural  streams ;  and  enterprise 
and  skill,  with  wealth,  refinement,  and  prosperity,  in 
their  train,  having  studded  the  seashore  with  populous 
cities,  are  making  their  great  "  progress"  of  improve- 
ment through  the  interior,  and  sowing  towns  and  villa- 
ges, as  it  were,  broadcast,  through  the  country ! 

II.  If  our  remote  position  be  so  important,  among  the 
circumstances,  which  favored  the  enterprise  of  our  fath- 
ers, and  have  favored  the  growth  of  their  settlements, 
scarcely  less  so,  was  the  point  of  time,  at  which  those 
settlements  were  commenced. 

When  we  cast  our  eyes  over  the  annals  of  our  race, 
we  find  them  to  be  filled  with  a  tale  of  various  fortunes  ; 
the  rise  and  fall  of  nations ;  periods  of  light  and  dark- 
ness ;  of  great  illumination,  and  of  utter  obscurity ;  and 
of  all  intermediate  degrees  of  intelligence,  cultivation, 
and  liberty.  But  in  the  seeming  confusion  of  the  nar- 
rative, our  attention  is  arrested  by  three  more  conspicu- 
ous eras,  at  unequal  distances  in  the  lapse  of  ages. 

In  Egypt,  we  still  behold,  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile, 
the  monuments  of  an  improved  age ; — a  period,  no 
doubt,  of  high  cultivation  and  of  great  promise.  Be- 
neath the  influence  of  causes,  which  are  lost  in  the  depth 
of  antiquity,  but  which  are  doubtless  connected  with  the 
debasing  superstitions  and  political  despotism,  which 
prevailed  in  that  Country,  this  period  passed  away,  and 
left  scarce  a  trace  of  its  existence,  beyond  the  stupen- 
dous and  mysterious  structures, — the  temples,  the  obe- 


FIRST   SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  OO 

lisks,  and  the  pyramids, — which  yet  bear  witness  to  an 
age  of  great  power  and  cultivated  art,  and  mock  the 
curiosity  of  mankind,  by  the  records  inscrutably  carved 
on  their  surfaces.* 

Passing  over  an  interval  of  one  thousand  years,  we 
reach  the  second  epoch  of  light  and  promise.  With  the 
progress  of  freedom,  in  Greece,  that  of  the  mind  kept 
pace  ;  and  an  age,  both  of  achievement  and  of  hope, 
succeeded,  of  which  the  influence  is  still  felt  in  the 
world.  But  the  greater  part  of  mankind  were  too  bar- 
barous, to  improve  by  the  example  of  this  favored  cor- 
ner ;  and  though  the  influence  of  its  arts,  letters,  and 
civilization,  was  wonderfully  extensive  and  durable ; 
though  it  seemed  to  revive  at  the  court  of  the  Roman 
Caesars,  and  still  later,  at  that  of  the  Arabian  Caliphs ; 
yet,  not  resting  on  those  popular  institutions,  and  popu- 
lar principles,  which  can  alone  be  permanent,  because 
alone  natural,  it  slowly  died  away,  and  Europe,  and  the 
world,  relapsed  into  barbarity. 

The  third  great  era  of  our  race  is  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  The  use  of  the  mariner's  compass, 
and  the  invention  of  the  art  of  printing,  had  furnished 
the  modern  world,  with  two  engines  of  improvement 
and  civilization,  either  of  which  was  far  more  efficacious, 
than  all  united,  known  to  antiquity.  The  Reformation, 
also,  about  this  time,  disengaged  Christianity,  itself  one 
of  the  most  powerful  instruments  of  civilization,  from 
those  abuses,  which  had  hitherto  greatly  impaired  its 
beneficent  influence  on  temporal  affairs  ;  and,  at  this 
most  chosen  moment,  in  the  annals  of  the  world,  Amer- 
ica was  discovered. 

It  would  not  be  difficult,  by  pursuing  this  analysis,  to 
show,  that  the  precise  period,  when  the  settlement  of 
our  coasts  began,  was  peculiarly  auspicious  to  the  foun- 
dation of  a  new  and  hopeful  system. 

Religious  reformation  was  the  original  principle, 
which  kindled  the  zeal  of  our  pilgrim  fathers  ;  as  it  has 

*  This  remark  was  made,  before  the  successful  attempts  of  Dr. 
Young  and  M.  Champollion  to  decipher  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphic*. 


56  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

been  so  often  acknowledged  to  be  the  master  principle 
of  the  greatest  movements  in  the  modern  world.  Tli3 
religions  of  Greece  and  Rome  weYe  portions  of  the 
political  systems  of  these  countries.  The  Scipios,  the 
Crassuses,  and  Julius  Caesar  himself,  were  high  priests. 
It  was,  doubtless,  owing,  in  part,  to  this  example,  that, 
at  an  early  period  after  the  first  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  heads  of  the  Church  so  entirely  mistook  the 
spirit  of  this  religion,  that,  in  imitation  of  the  splendid 
idolatry,  which  was  passing  away,  they  aimed  at  a  new 
combination  of  Church  and  State,  which  received  but 
too  much  countenance,  from  the  policy  of  Constantino. 
This  abuse,  with  ever  multiplying  and  aggravated  ca- 
lamitous consequences,  endured,  without  any  effectual 
check,  till  the  first  blow  was  aimed  at  the  supremacy  of 
the  papal  power,  by  Philip  the  Fair,  of  France,  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  who  laid  the  foundation  of  the  liber- 
ties of  the  Gallican  church,  by  what  may  be  called  the 
Catholic  Reformation. 

After  an  interval  of  two  hundred  years,  this  example 
was  followed  and  improved  upon  by  the  Princes  in 
Germany,  who  espoused  the  Protestant  Reformation 
of  Luther,  and  in  a  still  more  decisive  manner,  by 
Henry  the  Eighth,  in  England ;  at  which  period,  we 
may  accordingly  date  the  second  great  step  in  the  march 
of  religious  liberty. 

Much  more,  however,  was  yet  to  be  effected,  toward 
the  dissolution  of  the  political  bond  between  Church 
and  State.  Hitherto,  a  domestic  was  substituted  for  a 
foreign  yoke,  and  the  rights  of  private  conscience  had,  • 
perhaps,  gained  but  little  in  the  exchange.  In  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  among  the  exiles, 
whom  the  tyranny  of  Queen  Mary  had  driven  to  the 
free  cities  on  the  Rhine,  the  ever-memorable  sect  of 
Puritans  arose.  On  their  return  to  England,  in  the 
reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  they  strenuously  opposed 
themselves  to  the  erection  and  peculiarities  of  the  Eng- 
lish national  Church. 

Nearly  as  we  have  now  reached,  both  in  simplicity 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.       57 

of  principle  and  point  of  time,  to  our  pilgrim  forefath 
ers,  there  is  one  more  purifying  process  to,  go  through, 
one  more  generation  to  pass  away.  The  major  part  of 
the  Puritans  themselves,  while  they  rejected  some  of 
the  forms,  and  disliked  the  organization  of  the  English 
Church,  adhered,  in  substance,  to  the  constitution  of 
the  Genevan  Church,  and  their  descendants  were  will- 
ing, a  century  later,  to  accept  of  an  establishment  by 
law  in  Scotland. 

It  remained,  therefore,  to  shake  off  the  last  badge 
of  subjection,  and  take  the  last  step  in  the  progress  of 
reform,  by  asserting  the  independence  of  each  single 
church.  This  principle  may  be  considered  as  firmly 
established,  from  the  time  of  John  Robinson,  who  may 
be  called  the  father  of  the  Independent  churches.  His 
own,  at  Leyden,  was  the  chief  of  these,  and  fidelity 
to  their  principles  was  the  motive  of  their  departure 
from  Holland,  and  the  occasion  of  their  settlement  at 
Plymouth. 

Although  there  are  many  persons,  entitled  to  great  re- 
spect, who  will  not  concur  in  the  foregoing  statement,  of 
the  nature  of  the  dissent  of  our  forefathers  from  the  church 
of  England,  yet  none,  on  a  large  view  of  the  subject,  will 
be  unwilling  to  allow,  that  this  was  the  great  age  of  gen- 
eral improvement.  It  was  the  age,  when  the  discover- 
ies of  the  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and  English,  navigators 
had  begun  to  exert  a  stimulating  influence  on  the  world 
at  large ;  and  the  Old  continent  and  the  New,  like  the 
magnetic  poles,  commenced  those  momentous  processes 
of  attraction  and  repulsion,  from  which,  so  much  of  the 
activity  of  both  has  since  proceeded.  It  was  the  period, 
when  the  circulation  of  knowledge  had  become  gener- 
al ;  and  books,  in  all  languages,  were  in  the  hands  of 
a  very  large  class,  in  every  country.  The  history  of 
Europe,  in  all  its  states,  shows  the  extent  and  vehe- 
mence of  the  consequent  fermentation.  With  their 
new  engines  of  improvement  and  new  principles  of 
right,  the  communities  of  men  rushed  forward  in  the 


58  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

course  of  reform ;  some  with  firmness  and  vigor,  pro- 
portioned to  the  greatness  of  the  object  in  view ;  most 
with  tumult  and  desperation,  proportioned  to  the  dura- 
tion and  magnitude  of  their  injuries ;  and  none  with 
entire  success.  The  most  that  was  effected,  in  the 
most  fortunate  states,  was  a  compromise,  between  the 
new  claims  and  the  old  abuses.  Absolute  kings  stipu- 
lated to  be  no  longer  absolute ;  and  free  Citizens  pre- 
ferred what  they  called  petitions  of  right.  In  this  way, 
and  after  infinite  struggles,  a  tolerable  foundation  for 
considerable  practical  liberty  was  laid  on  two  princi- 
ples, in  the  abstract  false,  as  principles  of  government, 
— that  of  acquiescence  on  the  part  of  the  sovereign,  and 
prescription  in  favor  of  the  people.  So  firmly  estab- 
lished are  these  principles,  by  consent  of  the  statesmen 
of  the  freest  country  in  Europe,  as  the  best  and  only 
foundation  of  civil  rights,  that,  so  late  as  the  last  years 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  work,  of  ingenuity  seldom, 
of  eloquence  never,  surpassed,  was  written  by  Mr. 
Burke,  to  prove,  that  the  people  of  England  have  not  a 
right  to  appoint  and  to  remove  their  rulers ;  and  that, 
if  they  ever  had  the  right,  they  deliberately  renounced 
it,  at  what  is  called  the  glorious  revolution  of  1688,  for 
themselves  and  their  posterity  forever. 

The  work  of  reform  is,  of  course,  rendered  exceed- 
ingly difficult,  in  Europe,  by  the  length  of  time  for 
which  great  abuses  have  existed,  and  the  extent  to 
which  these  abuses  are  interwoven  with  the  whole  sys- 
tem. We  cannot  but  regard  it  as  the  plain  interposi- 
tion of  Providence,  that,  at  the  critical  point  of  time, 
when  the  most  powerful  springs  of  improvement  were 
in  operation,  a  chosen  company  of  pilgrims,  who  were 
actuated  by  these  springs  of  improvement,  in  all  their 
strength,  who  had  purchased  the  privilege  of  dissent 
at  the  high  price  of  banishment  from  the  civilized 
world,  and  who,  with  the  dust  of  their  feet,  had  sha- 
ken off  many  of  the  abuses  and  errors  which  had  been 
accumulating,  for  thousands  of  years,  came  over  to 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  59 

these  distant,  unoccupied  shores.  I  know  not  that  the 
work  of  thorough  reform  could  be  safely  trusted  to  any 
other  hands.  I  can  credit  their  disinterestedness,  when 
they  maintain  the  equality  of  ranks  ;  for  no  rich  forfeit- 
ures of  attainted  lords  await  them  in  the  wilderness. 
I  need  not  question  the  sincerity  with  which  they  assert 
the  rights  of  conscience ;  for  the  plundered  treasures 
of  an  ancient  hierarchy  are  not  to  seal  their  doctrine. 
They  rested  the  edifice  of  their  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erties, on  a  foundation,  as  pure  as  the  snows  around 
them.  Blessed  be  the  spot,  the  only  one  on  earth, 
where  such  a  foundation  was  ever  laid !  Blessed  be 
the  spot,  the  only  one  on  earth,  where  man  has  attempt- 
ed to  establish  the  good,  without  beginning  with  the 
sad,  the  odious,  the  often  suspicious,  task  of  pulling 
down  the  bad ! 

III.  Under  these  auspices,  the  Pilgrims  landed  on 
the  coast  of  New  England.  They  found  it  a  region  of 
moderate  fertility,  offering  an  unsubdued  wilderness  to 
the  hand  of  labor,  with  it  climate,  temperate,  indeed, 
but,  compared  with  that  which  they  had  left,  verging 
somewhat  near  to  either  extreme ;  and  a  soil,  which 
promised  neither  gold  nor  diamonds,  nor  any  thing  but 
what  should  be  gained  from  it  by  patient  industry. 
This  was  but  a  poor  reality  for  that  dream  of  Oriental 
luxury,  with  which  America  had  filled  the  imaginations 
of  men.  The  visions  of  Indian  wealth,  of  mines  of 
silver  and  gold,  and  fisheries  of  pearl,  with  which  the 
Spanish  adventurers  in  Mexico  and  Peru  had  astonish- 
ed the  ears  of  Europe,  were  but  poorly  fulfilled  on  the 
bleak,  rocky,  and  sterile,  plains  of  New  England.  No 
doubt,  in  the  beginning  of  the  settlement,  these  circum- 
stances operated  unfavorably  on  the  growth  of  the  colo- 
ny. In  the  nature  of  things,  it  is  mostly  adventurers, 
who  incline  to  leave  their  homes  and  native  land,  and  risk 
the  uncertainty  of  another  hemisphere ;  and  a  climate 
and  soil  like  ours  furnished  but  little  attraction  to  the 
adventuring  class.  Captain  Smith,  in  his  zeal  to  pro- 
mote the  growth  of  New  England,  is  at  no  little  pains 


60  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

to  show,  that  the  want  of  mineral  treasures  was  amply 
compensated  by  the  abundant  fishery  of  the  coast ;  and 
having  sketched,  in  strong  colors,  the  prosperity  and 
wealth  of  the  states  of  Holland,  he  adds,  "  Divers,  I 
know,  may  allege  many  other  assistances,  but  this  is 
the  chiefest  mine,  and  the  sea  the  source  of  those  silver 
streams  of  their  virtue,  which  hath  made  them  now  the 
very  miracle  of  industry,  the  only  pattern  of  perfection 
for  these  affairs ;  and  the  benefit  of  fishing  is  that  pri- 
mum  mobile*  that  turns  all  their  spheres  to  this  height 
of  plenty,  strength,  honor,  and  exceeding  great  admi- 
ration."! 

While  we  smile  at  this  overwrought  panegyric,  on 
the  primitive  resource  of  our  fathers,  we  cannot  but 
acknowledge,  that  it  has  foundation  in  truth.  It  is, 
doubtless,  to  the  untempting  qualities  of  our  climate 
and  soil,  and  the  conditions  of  industry  and  frugality, 
on  which  alone  the  prosperity  of  the  colony  could  be 
secured,  that  we  are  to  look  for  a  full  share  of  the  final 
success  of  the  enterprise. 

To  this,  it  is  to  be  ascribed,  that  the  country  itself 
was  not  preoccupied  by  a  crowded  population  of  sav- 
ages, like  the  West  India  Islands  and  Mexico,  who, 
placed  upon  a  soil,  yielding,  almost  spontaneously,  a 
superabundance  of  food,  had  multiplied  into  populous 
empires,  and  made  a  progress  in  the  arts,  which  served 
no  other  purpose,  than  to  give  strength  and  permanence 
to  some  of  the  most  frightful  systems  of  despotism,  that 
ever  afflicted  humanity ;  systems,  uniting  all  that  is 
most  horrible  in  depraved  civilization  and  wild  barbari- 
ty. The  problem,  indeed,  is  hard  to  be  solved,  in  what 
way,  and  by  what  steps,  a  continent,  possessed  by  sav- 
age tribes,  is  to  be  lawfully  occupied  and  colonized  by 
civilized  man.  But  this  question  was  divested  of  much 
of  its  practical  difficulty,  by  the  scantiness  of  the  native 
population,  which  our  fathers  found  in  New  England, 

*  The  first  cause  of  motion,  the  mainspring,  the  first  impulse. 
t  Smith's  General!  Historic.     Vol.  II.  p.  185,  Richmond  Edit. 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  Cl 

and  the  migratory  life,  to  which  the  necessity  of  the 
chase  reduced  them.  It  is  owing  to  this,  that  the  an- 
nals of  New  England  exhibit  no  scenes,  like  those  which 
were  acted  in  Hispaniola,  in  Mexico,  and  Peru ;  no 
tragedies  like  those  of  Anacaona,  of  Guatimozin,  and 
of  Atahualpa  ;  no  statesman  like  Bobadilla  ;  no  heroes 
like  Pizarro  and  Cortes ; 

"No  dark  Ovando,  no  religious  Boyle." 

The  qualities  of  our  climate  and  soil  enter  largely, 
in  other  ways,  into  that  natural  basis,  on  which  our 
prosperity  and  our  freedom  have  been  reared.  It  is 
these,  which  distinguish  the  smiling  aspect  of  our  busy, 
thriving  villages,  from  the  lucrative  desolation  of  the 
sugar  islands,  and  all  the  wide-spread,  undescribed, 
indescribable,  miseries,  of  the  colonial  system  of  mod- 
ern Europe,  as  it  has  existed,  beyond  the  barrier  of 
these  mighty  oceans,  in  the  unvisited,  unprotected,  and 
unavenged,  recesses  of  either  India.  We  have  had 
abundant  reason  to  be  contented  with  this  austere  sky, 
this  hard,  unyielding  soil.  Poor  as  it  is,  it  has  left  us 
no  cause  to  sigh  for  the  luxuries  of  the  tropics,  nor  to 
covet  the  mines  of  the  southern  regions  of  our  hemi- 
sphere. Our  rough  and  hardly  subdued  hill-sides,  and 
barren  plains,  have  produced  us  that,  which  neither 
ores,  nor  spices,  nor  sweets  could  purchase ;  which 
would  not  spring  in  the  richest  gardens  of  the  despotic 
East.  The  compact  numbers  and  the  strength,  the 
general  intelligence  and  the  civilization,  which,  since 
the  world  began,  were  never  exhibited  beneath  the  sul- 
try line,  have  been  the  precious  product  of  this  iron- 
bound  coast.  The  rocks  and  the  sands,  which  would 
yield  us  neither  the  cane  nor  the  coffee  tree,  have  yield 
ed  us,  not  only  an  abundance  and  a  steadiness  in  re- 
sources, rarely  consistent  with  the  treacherous  profusion 
of  tropical  colonies,  but  the  habits,  the  manners,  the 
institutions,  the  industrious  population,  the  schools  and 
the  churches,  beyond  all  the  wealth  of  all  the  Indies. 

6  £.  E. 


62  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

"  Man  is  the  nobler  growth  our  soil  supplies, 
And  souls  are  ripened  in  our  northern  skies." 

Describe  to  me,  a  country,  rich  in  veins  of  the  pre- 
cious metals,  that  is  traversed  by  good  roads.  Inform 
me  of  the  convenience  of  bridges,  where  the  rivers 
roll  over  golden  sands.  Tell  me  of  a  thrifty,  prosper- 
ous village  of  freemen,  in  the  miserable  districts  where 
every  clod  of  the  earth  is  kneaded  up  for  diamonds, 
beneath  the  lash  of  the  task-master.  No,  never !  while 
the  constitution,  not  of  states,  but  of  human  nature, 
remains  the  same ;  never,  while  the  laws,  not  of  civil 
society,  but  of  God,  are  unrepealed,  will  there  be  a 
hardy,  virtuous,  independent  yeomanry,  in  regions, 
where  two  acres  of  untilled  banana  will  feed  a  hundred 
men.  It  is  idle  to  call  that /bod,  which  can  never  feed 
a  free,  intelligent,  industrious  population.  It  is  not 
food ;  it  is  dust ;  it  is  chaff;  it  is  ashes ;  there  is  no 
nourishment  in  it,  if  it  be  not  carefully  sown,  and  pain- 
fully reaped,  by  laborious  freemen,  on  their  own  fee- 
simple  acres. 

IV.  Nor  ought  we  to  omit  to  say,  that,  if  our  fore- 
fathers found,  in  the  nature  of  the  region  to  which  they 
emigrated,  the  most  favorable  spot  for  the  growth  of  a 
free  and  happy  state,  they  themselves  sprang  from  the 
land,  the  best  adapted  to  furnish  the  habits  and  prin- 
ciples essential  to  the  great  undertaking.  In  an  age, 
that  speculates,  and  speculates  to  important  purpose, 
on  the  races  of  fossil  animals,  of  which  no  living  spec- 
imen has  existed  since  the  Deluge,  and  which  com- 
pares, with  curious  criticism,  the  dialects  of  languages, 
which  ceased  to  be  spoken,  a  thousand  years  ago,  it 
cannot  be  called  idle,  to  inquire,  which,  of  the  different 
countries  of  modern  Europe,  possesses  the  qualities, 
that  best  adapt  it  to  become  the  parent  nation  of  a  new 
and  free  state.  I  know  not,  in  fact,  what  more  mo 
mentous  question,  in  human  affairs,  could  be  asked, 
than  that  which  regards  the  most  hopeful  lineage  of  a 
collective  empire.  But,  without  engaging  in  so  exten- 
sive a  discussion,  I  may  presume,  that  there  is  not  one 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  63 

who  hears  me  that  does  not  feel  it  a  matter  of  congrat- 
ulation and  joy,  that  our  fathers  were  Englishmen. 

No  character  is  perfect  among  nations,  more  than 
among  men  ;  but  it  must  needs  be  conceded,  that,  after 
our  own  Country,  England  is  the  most  favored  abode 
of  liberty ;  or  rather,  that,  besides  our  own,  it  is  the 
only  land,  where  liberty  can  be  said  to  exist ;  the  only 
land,  where  the  voice  of  the  sovereign,  is  not  stronger 
than  the  voice  of  the  law.  We  can  scarce  revolve, 
with  patience,  the  idea,  that  we  might  have  been  a 
Spanish  colony,  a  Portuguese  colony,  or  a  Dutch  colo- 
ny. We  can  scarcely  compare,  with  coolness,  the  in- 
heritance of  those  institutions,  which  were  transmitted 
to  us,  by  our  fathers,  with  that  which  we  must  have 
received  from  almost  any  other  country  ;  absolute  gov- 
ernment, military  despotism,  and  the  "  holy  inquisition." 
What  would  have  been  the  condition  of  this  flourish- 
ing and  happy  land,  had  these  been  the  institutions,  on 
which  its  settlement  was  founded  ?  There  are,  unfor- 
tunately, too  many  materials  for  answering  this  ques- 
tion, in  the  history  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
settlements  on  the  American  continent,  from  the  first 
moment  of  unrelenting  waste  and  desolation,  to  the 
distractions  and  conflicts,  of  which  we  ourselves  are 
the  witnesses.  What  hope  can  there  be,  for  the  colo- 
nies of  nations,  which  possess,  themselves,  no  spring  of 
improvement ;  and  tolerate  none  in  the  regions  over 
which  they  rule ;  whose  administration  sets  no  bright 
examples  of  political  independence;  whose  languages 
send  out  no  reviving  lessons  of  sound  and  practical 
science,  (afraid  of  nothing  that  is  true,)  of  manly  liter- 
ature, of  free  speculation ;  but  repeat,  with  every  ship 
that  crosses  the  Atlantic,  the  same  debasing  voice  of 
despotism,  credulity,  superstition,  and  slavery  ? 

What  citizen  of  our  republic  is  not  grateful,  in  the 
contrast  which  our  history  presents  ?  Who  does  not 
feel,  what  reflecting  American  does  not  acknowledge, 
the  incalculable  advantages  derived  to  this  land,  out  of 
the  deep  foundations  of  civil,  intellectual,  and  moral, 


64 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


truth,  from  which  we  have  drawn  in  England  ?  What 
American  does  not  feel  proud,  that  he  is  descended 
from  the  countrymen  of  Bacon,  of  Newton,  and  of 
Locke  ?  Who  does  not  know,  that,  while  every  pulse 
of  civil  liberty,  in  the  heart  of  the  British  empire,  beat 
warm  and  full  in  the  bosom  of  our  fathers ;  the  sobri- 
ety, the  firmness,  and  the  dignity,  with  which  the  cause 
of  free  principles  struggled  into  existence  here,  con- 
stantly found  encouragement  and  countenance  from 
the  sons  of  liberty  there  ?  Who  does  not  remember, 
that,  when  the  Pilgrims  went  over  the  sea,  the  prayers 
of  the  faithful  British  confessors,  in  all  the  quarters  of. 
their  dispersion,  went  over  with  them,  while  their  aching 
eyes  were  strained,  till  the  star  of  hope  should  go  up 
in  the  western  skies  ?  And  who  will  ever  forget,  that, 
in  that  eventful  struggle,  which  severed  this  mighty 
republic  from  the  British  crown,  there  was  not  heard, 
throughout  our  continent  in  arms,  a  voice,  which  spoke 
louder  for  the  rights  of  America,  than  that  of  Burke  or 
of  Chatham,  within  the  walls  of  the  British  parliament, 
and  at  the  foot  of  the  British  throne  ?  No :  for  myself 
I  can  truly  say,  that,  after  my  native  land,  I  feel  a  ten- 
derness and  a  reverence  for  that  of  my  fathers.  The 
pride  I  take  in  my  own  Country  makes  me  respect  that 
from  which  we  are  sprung.  In  touching  the  soil  of 
England,  I  seem  to  return,  like  a  descendant,  to  the 
old  family  seat ;  to  come  back  to  the  abode  of  an  aged 
and  venerable  parent.  I  acknowledge  this  great  con- 
sanguinity of  nations.  The  sound  of  my  native  lan- 
guage, beyond  the  sea,  is  a  music  to  my  ear,  beyond 
the  richest  strains  of  Tuscan  softness,  or  Castilian  maj- 
esty. I  am  not  yet  in  a  land  of  strangers,  while  sur- 
rounded by  the  manners,  the  habits,  the  institutions 
under  which  I  have  been  brought  up.  I  wander,  de- 
lighted, through  a  thousand  scenes,  which  the  historians, 
the  poets,  have  made  familiar  to  us ;  of  which  the 
names  are  interwoven  with  our  earliest  associations.  I 
tread,  with  reverence,  the  spots,  where  I  can  retrace 
the  footsteps  of  our  suffering  fathers ;  the  pleasant  land 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  QF  NEW  ENGLAND.  65 

of  their  birth  has  a  claim  on  my  heart.  It  seems  to  me 
a  classic,  yea,  a  holy  land,  rich  in  the  memory  of  the 
great  and  good,  the  martyrs  of  liberty,  the  exiled  her- 
alds of  truth  ;  and  richer,  as  the  parent  of  this  land  of 
promise  in  the  West. 

I  am  not, — I  need  not  say,  I  am  not, — the  panegy- 
rist of  England.  I  am  not  dazzled  by  her  riches,  nor 
awed  by  her  power.  The  sceptre,  the  mitre,  and  the 
coronet, — stars,  garters,  and  blue  ribands, — seem,  to  me, 
poor  things  for  great  men  to  contend  for.  Nor  is  my 
admiration  awakened  by  her  armies,  mustered  for  the 
battles  of  Europe  ;  her  navies,  overshadowing  the  ocean  ; 
nor  her  empire  grasping  the  furthest  East.  It  is  these, 
and  the  price  of  guilt  and  blood  by  which  they  are 
maintained,  which  are  the  cause,  why  no  friend  of  lib- 
erty can  salute  her  with  undivided  affections.  But  it 
is  the  refuge  of  free  principles,  though  often  persecut- 
ed ;  the  school  of  religious  liberty,  the  more  precious 
for  the  struggles  to  which  it  has  been  called ;  the  tombs 
of  those  who  have  reflected  honor  on  all  who  speak  the 
English  tongue ;  it  is  the  birthplace  of  our  fathers,  the 
home  of  the  Pilgrims ;  it  is  these,  which  I  love  and 
venerate  in  England.  I  should  feel  ashamed  of  an 
enthusiasm  for  Italy  and  Greece,  did  I  not  also  feel  it, 
for  a  land  like  this.  In  an  American,  it  would  seem 
to  me  degenerate  and  ungrateful,  to  hang,  with  passion, 
upon  the  traces  of  Homer  and  Virgil,  and  follow,  with- 
out emotion,  the  nearer  and  plainer  footsteps  of  Shak- 
speare  and  Milton  ;  and  I  should  think  him  cold  in  his 
love  for  his  native  land,  who  felt  no  melting  in  his 
heart,  for  that  other  native  land,  which  holds  the  ashes 
of  his  forefathers. 

V.  But  it  was  not  enough,  that  our  fathers  were  of 
England :  the  masters  of  Ireland,  and  the  lords  of  Hin 
dostan,  are  of  England,  too.  But  our  fathers  were  Eng- 
lishmen, aggrieved,  persecuted,  and  banished.  It  is  a 
principle,  amply  borne  out  by  the  history  of  the  great 
and  powerful  nations  of  the  earth,  and  by  that  of  none, 
more  than  the  country  of  which  we  speak,  that  the  best 
6* 


66  FIRST  'SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

fruits  and  choicest  action,  of  the  commendable  qualities 
of  the  national  character,  are  to  be  found  on  the  side 
of  the  oppressed  feAV,  and  not  of  the  triumphant  many. 
As  in  private  character,  adversity  is  often  requisite  to 
give  a  proper  direction  and  temper  to  strong  qualities, 
so  the  noblest  traits  of  national  character,  ev^n  under 
the  freest  and  most  independent  of  hereditary  govern- 
ments, must  sometimes  be  sought,  in  the  ranks  of  a 
protesting  minority,  or  of  a  dissenting  sect.  Never  was 
this  truth  more  clearly  illustrated,  than  in  the  settlement 
of  New  England. 

Could  a  common  calculation  of  policy  have  dictated 
the  terms  of  that  settlement,  no  doubt  our  foundations 
would  have  been  laid  beneath  the  royal  smile.  Con- 
voys and  navies  would  have  been  solicited  to  waft  our 
fathers  to  the  coast ;  armies,  to  defend  the  infant  com- 
munities ;  and  the  flattering  patronage  of  princes  and 
lords,  to  espouse  their  interests  in  the  councils  of  the 
mother  country.  Happy,  that  our  fathers  enjoyed  no 
such  patronage  ;  happy,  that  they  fell  into  no  such^  pro- 
tecting hands  ;  happy,  that  our  foundations  were  silent- 
ly and  deeply  cast  in  quiet  insignificance,  beneath  a 
charter  of  banishment,  persecution,  and  contempt ;  so 
that,  when  the  royal  arm  was  at  length  outstretched 
against  us,  instead  of  a  submissive  child,  tied  down  by 
former  graces,  it  found  a  youthful  giant  in  the  land, 
born  amidst  hardships,  and  nourished  on  the  rocks,  in- 
debted for  no  favors,  and  owing  no  duty.  From  the 
dark  portals  of  the  star  chamber,  and  in  the  stern  text 
of  the  acts  of  uniformity,  the  Pilgrims  received  a  com- 
mission, more  efficient  than  any  that  ever  bore  the  roy- 
al seal.  Their  banishment  to  Holland  was  fortunate ; 
the  decline  of  their  little  company,  in  the  strange  land, 
was  fortunate  ;  the  difficulties,  which  they  experienced 
in  getting  the  royal  consent  to  banish  themselves  to  this 
wilderness,  were  fortunate ;  all  the  tears  and  heart- 
breakings,  of  that  ever-memorable  parting  at  Delfthaven, 
had  the  happiest  influence  on  the  rising  destinies  of 
New  England.  All  this  purified  the  ranks  of  the  set- 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  67 

tiers.  These  rough  touches  of  fortune  brushed  off  the 
light,  uncertain,  selfish  spirits.  They  made  it  a  grave, 
solemn,  self-denying  expedition.  They  cast  a  broad 
shadow  of  thought  and  seriousness  over  the  cause,  and, 
if  this  sometimes  deepened  into  melancholy  and  bit- 
terness, can  we  find  no  apology  for  such  a  human  weak- 
ness? 

It  is  sad,  indeed,  to  reflect  on  the  disasters,  which 
this  little  band  of  Pilgrims  encountered.  Sad,  to  see  a 
portion  of  them  the  prey  of  unrelenting  cupidity,  treach- 
erously embarked  in  an  unseaworthy  ship,  which  they 
are  soon  obliged  to  abandon,  and  crowd  themselves  in- 
to one  vessel ; — one  hundred  persons,  besides  the  ship's 
company,  in  a  vessel  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  tons. 
One  is  touched,  at  the  story  of  the  long,  cold,  and  wea- 
ry, Autumnal  passage ;  of  the  landing  on  the  inhospit- 
able rocks,  at  this  dismal  season ;  where  they  are  de- 
serted, before  long,  by  the  ship,  which  had  brought 
them,  and  which  seemed  their  only  hold  upon  the  world 
of  fellow-men,  a  prey  to  the  elements  and  te  want,  and 
fearfully  ignorant  of  the  numbers,  the  power,  and  the 
temper,  of  the  savage  tribes,  that  filled  the  unexplored 
continent,  upon  whose  verge  they  had  ventured.  But 
all  this  wrought  together  for  good.  These  trials  of 
wandering  and  exile,  of  the  ocean,  the  Winter,  the  wil- 
derness, and  the  savage  foe,  were  the  final  assurance  of 
success.  It  was  these,  that  put  far  away  from  our  fa- 
thers' cause,  all  patrician  softness,  all  hereditary  claims 
to  preeminence.  No  effeminate  nobility  crowded  into 
the  dark  and  austere  ranks  of  the  Pilgrims.  No  Carr 
nor  Villiers  desired  to  lead  on  the  ill-provided  band  of 
despised  Puritans.  No  well-endowed  clergy  were  de- 
sirous, to  quit  their  cathedrals,  and  set  up  a  splendid 
hierarchy  in  the  frozen  wilderness.  No  craving  gov- 
ernors were  anxious  to  be  sent  over  to  our  cheerless 
El  Dorados  of  ice  and  of  snow.  No,  they  could  not 
say  they  had  encouraged,  patronised,  or  helped,  the  Pil- 
grims. They  could  not  afterwards  fairly  pretend  to 
reap,  where  they  had  not  strown ;  and,  as  our  fathers 


68  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

reared  this  broad  and  solid  fabric  with  pains  and  watch- 
fulness, unaided,  barely  tolerated,  it  did  not  fall,  when 
the  arm,  which  had  never  supported,  was  raised  to  de- 
stroy. 

Methinks  I  see  it,  now,  that  one  solitary,  adventurous 
vessel,  the  Mayflower  of  a  forlorn  hope,  freighted  with 
the  prospects  of  a  future  state,  and  bound  across  the 
unknown  sea.  I  behold  it,  pursuing,  with  a  thousand 
misgivings,  the  uncertain,  the  tedious  voyage.  Suns 
rise  and  set,  and  weeks  and  months  pass,  and  Winter 
surprises  them  on  the  deep,  but  brings  them  not  the 
sight  of  the  wished-for  shore.  I  see  them,  now,  scan- 
tily supplied  with  provisions,  crowded  almost  to  suffo- 
cation in  their  ill-stored  prison,  delayed  by  calms,  pur- 
suing a  circuitous  route ;  and  now,  driven  in  fury  be- 
fore the  raging  tempest,  on  the  high  and  giddy  waves. 
The  awful  voice  of  the  storm  howls  through  the  rig- 
ging. The  laboring  masts  seem  straining  from  their 
base ;  the  dismal  sound  of  the  pumps  is  heard ;  the 
ship  leaps,  as  it  were,  madly,  from  billow  to  billow  ;  the 
ocean  breaks,  and  settles  with  engulfing  floods  over 
the  floating  deck,  and  beats  with  deadening  weight, 
against  the  staggered  vessel.  I  see  them,  escaped 
from  these  perils,  pursuing  their  all  but  desperate  un- 
dertaking, and  landed  at  last,  after  a  five  months' 
passage,  on  the  ice-clad  rocks  of  Plymouth,  weak  and 
weary  from  the  voyage,  poorly  armed,  scantily  provis- 
ioned, depending  on  the  charity  of  their  ship-master 
for  a  draught  of  beer  on  board,  drinking  nothing  but 
water  on  shore,  without  shelter,  without  means,  sur- 
rounded by  hostile  tribes.  Shut  now  the  volume  of  his- 
tory, and  tell  me,  on  any  principle  of  human  probability, 
what  shall  be  the  fate  of  this  handful  of  adventurers. 
Tell  me,  man  of  military  science,  in  how  many  months 
were  they  all  swept  off  by  the  thirty  savage  tribes,  enu- 
merated within  the  early  limits  of  New  England  ?  Tell 
me,  politician,  how  long  did  this  shadow  of  a  colony, 
on  which  your  conventions  and  treaties  had  not  smiled, 
languish  on  the  distant  coast  ?  Student  of  history, 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  69 

compare  for  me  the  baffled  projects,  the  deserted  settle- 
ments, the  abandoned  adventures,  of  other  times,  and 
find  the  parallel  of  this.  Was  it  the  Winter's  storm, 
beating  upon  the  houseless  heads  of  women  and  chil- 
dren ?  was  it  hard  labor  and  spare  meals  ?  was  it  dis- 
ease ?  was  it  the  tomahawk  ?  was  it  the  deep  malady 
of  a  blighted  hope,  a  ruined  enterprise,  and  a  broken 
heart,  aching  in  its  last  moments,  at  the  recollection  of 
the  loved  and  left,  beyond  the  sea? — was  it  some,  or 
all,  of  these,  united,  that  hurried  this  forsaken  company 
to  their  melancholy  fate  ?  And  is  it  possible,  that  nei- 
ther of  these  causes,  that  not  all  combined,  were  able 
to  blast  this  bud  of  hope  ?  Is  it  possible,  that  from  a 
beginning,  so  feeble,  so  frail,  so  worthy,  not  so  much 
of  admiration  as  of  pity,  there  has  gone  forth  a  progress 
so  steady,  a  growth  so  wonderful,  a  reality  so  important, 
a  promise  yet  to  be  fulfilled,  so  glorious  ? 

Such,  in  a  very  inadequate  statement,  are  some  of 
the  circumstances,  under  which  the  settlement  of  our 
country  began.  The  historian  of  Massachusetts,  after 
having  given  a  brief  notice  of  Carver,  of  Bradford,  of 
Winslow,  of  Brewster,  of  Standish,  and  others,  adds, 
"  These  were  the  founders  of  the  colony  of  Plymouth. 
The  settlement  of  this  colony  occasioned  the  settlement 
of  Massachusetts  Bay ;  which  was  the  source  of  all  the 
other  colonies  of  New  England.  Virginia  was  in  a  dy- 
ing state,  and  seemed  to  revive  and  flourish  from  the 
example  of  New  England.  I  am  not  preserving  from 
oblivion,"  continues  he,  "  the  names  of  heroes,  whose 
chief  merit  is  the  overthrow  of  cities,  of  provinces,  and 
empires ;  but  the  names  of  the  founders  of  a  flourish- 
ing town  and  colony,  if  not  of  the  whole  British  empire 
in  America."*  This  was  the  judicious  reflection  of 
Hutchinson,  sixty  years  ago,  when  the  greatest  tribute 
to  be  paid  to  the  Fathers  of  Plymouth  was,  that  they 
took  the  lead  in  colonizing  the  British  possessions  in 
America.  What,  then,  ought  to  be  our  emotions,  as 

*  Hutchinson'a  History  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  Vol.  II.     Appendix, 
p.  463. 


70  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

we  meet,  on  this  anniversary,  upon  the  spot,  where  the 
first  successful  foundations  of  the  great  American  re- 
public were  laid  ? 

Within  a  short  period,  an  incident  has  occurred, 
which,  of  itself,  connects,  in  the  most  gratifying  asso- 
ciation, the  early  settlement  of  New  England,  with  the 
present  growth  and  prosperity  of  our  wide-extended 
republic.  Within  the  past  year,  the  sovereign  hand  of 
this  great  confederacy  of  States  has  been  extended,  for 
the  restoration  and  security  of  the  harbor,  where,  on 
the  day  we  celebrate,  the  germ  of  the  future  growth  of 
America  was  comprehended  within  one  weather-beaten 
vessel,  tossing  upon  the  tide,  on  board  of  which,  in  the 
words  of  Hutchinson,  the  Fathers  of  New  England,  by  a 
solemn  instrument,  "  formed  themselves  into  a  proper 
democracy."  Two  centuries,  only,  have  elapsed,  and 
we  behold  a  great  American  representation  convened, 
from  twenty-four  independent  and  flourishing  republics, 
taking  under  their  patronage  the  local  interests  of  the 
spot  where  our  fathers  landed,  and  providing,  in  the 
same  act  of  appropriation,  for  the  removal  of  obstacles 
in  the  Mississippi  and  the  repair  of  Plymouth  beach. 
I  know  not  in  what  words  a  more  beautiful  commenta- 
ry could  be  written,  on  our  early  infancy  or  our  happy 
growth.  There  were  members  of  the  national  Congress 
which  made  that  appropriation,  I  will  not  say  from  dis- 
tant states,  but  from  different  climates ;  from  regions 
which  the  sun  in  the  heavens  does  not  reach  in  the 
same  hour  that  he  rises  on  us.  Happy  community  of 
protection  !  Glorious  brotherhood !  Blessed  fulfilment 
of  that  first  timorous  hope,  that  warmed  the  bosoms  of 
our  fathers ! 

Nor  is  it  even  our  mighty  territory,  to  which  the  in- 
fluence of  the  principles  and  example  of  the  fathers  of 
New  England  is  confined.  While  I  utter  the  words,  a 
constitution  of  republican  government,  closely  imitated 
from  ours,  is  going  into  operation  in  the  States  of  the 
Mexican  confederation,  a  region  more  extensive  than 
all  our  territories  east  of  the  Mississippi.  Further  south. 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  71 

one  of  the  provinces  of  Central  America,  the  republic 
of  Guatimala,  has  sent  its  envoys  to  solicit  a  union  with 
us.  Will  posterity  believe,  that  such  an  offer  was  made 
and  refused,  in  the  age,  that  saw  England  and  Spain 
rushing  into  war  for  the  possession  of  a  few  uninhabited 
islets  on  the  coast  of  Patagonia  ?  Pass  the  isthmus  of 
Darien,  and  we  behold  the  sister  republic  of  Colombia, 
a  realm  two  thirds  as  large  as  Europe,  ratifying  her  first 
solemn  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  with  the  United 
States ;  while  still  onward  to  the  south,  in  the  valleys 
of  the  Chilian  Andes,  and  on  the  banks  of  La  Plata,  in 
states  not  less  vast  than  those  already  named,  consti- 
tutions of  republican  government  are  in  prosperous  ope- 
ration, founded  on  our  principles,  and  modelled  on  our 
forms.  When  our  commissioners  visited  those  coun- 
tries, in  1817,  they  found  the  books,  most  universally 
read  among  the  people,  were,  the  constitutions  of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  several  States,  translated  into 
the  language  of  the  country  ;  while  the  public  journals 
were  filled  with  extracts  from  the  celebrated  '  Defence;1 
of  these  eonsuiuuons,  written  by  that  venerable  de- 
scendant of  the  Pilgrims,  who  still  lives  to  witness  the 
prosperous  operation  of  the  governments,  which  he  did 
so  much  to  establish.* 

I  do  not  fear  that  we  shall  be  accused  of  extrava- 
gance, in  the  enthusiasm  we  feel  at  a  train  of  events, 
of  such  astonishing  magnitude,  novelty,  and  conse- 
quence, connected  by  associations  so  intimate,  with  the 
day  we  now  hail ;  with  the  events  we  now  celebrate  ; 
with  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England.  Victims  of 
persecution !  how  wide  an  empire  acknowledges  the 
sway  of  your  principles !  Apostles  of  liberty  !  what 
millions  attest  the  authenticity  of  your  mission  !  Meek 
champions  of  truth !  no  stain  of  private  interest  or  of 
innocent  blood  is  on  the  spotless  garments  of  your  re- 
nown !  The  great  continents  of  America  have  become, 


*  John  Adams,  formerly  President  of  the  United  States.     He  died 
at  Quiucy,  July  4,  1S26. 


72  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

at  length,  the  theatre  of  your  achievements ;  the  At- 
lantic and  the  Pacific,  the  highways  of  communication, 
on  which  your  principles,  your  institutions,  your  exam- 
ple, are  borne.  From  the  oldest  abodes  of  civilization, 
the  venerable  plains  of  Greece,  to  the  scarcely  explored 
range  of  the  Cordilleras,  the  impulse  you  gave,  at  length, 
is  felt.  While  other  regions  revere  you  as  the  leaders 
of  this  great  march  of  humanity,  we  are  met,  on  this 
joyful  day,  to  offer  to  your  memory  our  tribute  of  filial 
affection.  The  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Pilgrims,  we 
have  assembled  on  the  spot,  where  you,  our  suffering 
fathers,  set  foot  on  this  happy  shore.  Happy,  indeed, 
it  has  been  for  us  !  O !  that  you  could  have  enjoyed 
those  blessings,  which  you  prepared  for  your  children ! 
Could  our  comfortable  homes  have  shielded  you,  from 
the  Wintry  air  !  could  our  abundant  harvests  have  sup- 
plied you,  in  time  of  famine !  could  the  broad  shield 
of  our  beloved  country  have  sheltered  you,  from  the 
visitations  of  arbitrary  power !  We  come,  in  our  pros- 
perity, to  remember  your  trials ;  and  here,  on  the  spot 
where  New  England  began  to  be,  we  come,  to  learn  of 
you,  our  Pilgrim  Fathers,  a  deep  and  lasting  lesson  of 
virtue,  enterprise,  patience,  zeal,  and  faith  ! 


IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE.  73 


ON  THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOW- 
LEDGE, TO  PRACTICAL  MEN,  AND  ON  THE 
ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.* 

THE  chief  object  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute  is,  to  dif- 
fuse useful  knowledge  among  the  mechanic  class  of  the 
community.  It  aims,  in  general,  to  improve  and  in- 
form the  minds  of  its  members;  and  particularly  to 
illustrate  and  explain  the  principles  of  the  various  arts 
of  life,  and  render  them  familiar  to  that  portion  of  the 
community,  who  are  to  exercise  these  arts  as  their  oc- 
cupation in  society.  It  is  also  a  proper  object  of  the 
Institute,  to  point  out  the  connexion  between  the  me- 
chanic arts  and  the  other  pursuits  and  occupations,  and 
show  the  foundations,  which  exist  in  our  very  nature, 
for  a  cordial  union  between  them  all. 

These  objects  recommend  themselves  strongly  and 
obviously  to  general  approbation.  Whil»  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  mind,  in  its  more  general  sense,  and  in  con- 
nexion with  morals,  is  as  important  to  mechanics  as 
to  any  other  class,  nothing  is  plainer,  than  that  those, 
whose  livelihood  depends  on  the  skilful  practice  of  the 
arts,  ought  to  be  instructed,  as  far  as  possible,  in  the 
scientific  principles  and  natural  laws,  on  which  the  arts 
are  founded.  This  is  necessary,  in  order  that  the  arts 
themselves  should  be  pursued  to  the  greatest  advantage  ; 
that  popular  errors  should  be  eradicated ;  that  every 
accidental  improvement  in  the  processes  of  industry, 
which  offers  itself,  should  be  readily  taken  up  and  pur- 
sued to  its  principle  ;  that  false  notions,  leading  to  waste 
of  time  and  labor,  should  be  prevented  from  gaining 
or  retaining  currency ;  in  short,  that  the  useful,  like 
ihe  ornamental,  arts  of  life,  should  be  carried  to  the 
point  of  attainable  perfection. 

*  The  following  Essay  contains  the  substance  of  Addresses  delivered 
by  the  Author,  before  several  institutions  for  scientific  improvement. 
7  E.  E. 


74  IMPORTANCE  OF   SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

The  history  of  the  progress  of  the  human  mind 
shows  us,  that,  for  want  of  a  diffusion  of  scientific 
knowledge,  among  practical  men,  great  evils  have  re- 
sulted, both  to  science  and  practice.  Before  the  inven- 
tion of  the  art  of  printing,  the  means  of  acquiring  and 
circulating  knowledge  were  few  and  ineffectual.  The 
philosopher  was,  in  consequence,  exclusively  a  man  of 
study,  who,  by  living  in  a  monastic  seclusion,  and  by 
delving  into  the  few  books  which  time  had  spared, — 
particularly  the  works  of  Aristotle  and  his  commenta- 
tors,— succeeded  in  mastering  the  learning  of  the  day  ; 
learning,  mostly  of  an  abstract  and  metaphysical  nature. 
Thus,  living  in  a  world,  not  of  practice,  but  speculation, 
and  seldom  bringing  his  theories  to  the  test  of  observa- 
tion, his  studies  assumed  a  visionary  character.  Hence 
the  projects  for  the  transmutation  of  metals, — a  notion 
not  originating  in  any  observation  of  the  qualities  of 
the  different  kinds  of  metals,  but  in  reasoning,  a  prio- 
ri, on  their  supposed  identity  of  substance.  So  deep 
rooted  was  this  delusion,  that  a  great  part  of  the  natural 
science,  of  the  middle  ages,  consisted  in  projects  to 
convert  the  baser  metals  into  gold.  It  is  plain,  that 
such  a  project  would  no  more  have  been  countenanced, 
by  intelligent,  well-informed  persons,  practically  con- 
versant with  the  nature  of  the  metals,  than  a  project 
to  transmute  pine  into  oak,  or  fish  into  flesh. 

In  like  manner,  by  giving  science  wholly  up  to  the 
philosophers,  and  making  the  practical  arts  of  life  merely 
a  matter  of  traditionary  repetition,  from  one  generation 
to  another  of  uninformed  artisans,  much  evil,  of  an 
opposite  kind,  was  occasioned.  Accident,  of  course, 
could  be  the  only  source  of  improvement;  and,  for 
want  of  acquaintance  with  the  leading  principles  of 
mechanical  philosophy,  the  chances  were  indefinitely 
multiplied,  against  these  accidental  improvements.  For 
want  of  the  diffusion  of  information,  among  practical 
men,  the  principles,  prevailing  in  an  art,  in  one  place, 
were  unknown,  in  other  places  ;  and  processes,  existing 
at  one  period,  were  liable  to  be  forgotten,  in  the  lapse 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  75 

of  time.  Mysteries  and  secrets,  easily  kept,  in  such  a 
state  of  things,  and  cherished  by  their  possessor,  as  a 
source  of  monopoly,  were  so  common,  that  mystery 
is  still  occasionally  used,  as  synonymous  with  trade. 
This  also  contributed  to  the  loss  of  arts,  once  brought 
to  perfection,  such  as  that  of  staining  glass,  as  practised 
in  the  middle  ages.  Complicated  machinery  was  out 
of  the  question  ;  for  it  requires,  for  its  invention  and 
improvement,  the  union  of  scientific  knowledge  and 
practical  skill.  The  mariner  was  left  to  creep  along 
the  coast,  while  the  astronomer  was  casting  nativities  ; 
and  the  miner  was  reduced  to  the  most  laborious  and 
purely  mechanical  processes,  to  extract  the  precious 
metals  from  the  ores  that  really  contained  them,  while 
the  chemist,  who  ought  to  have  taught  him  the  method 
of  amalgamation,*  could  find  no  use  for  mercury,  but  as 
a  menstruum,  by  which  baser  metals  could  be  turned 
into  gold. 

At  the  present  day,  this  state  of  things  is  certainly 
changed.  A  variety  of  popular  treatises,  and  works 
of  reference,  have  made  the  great  principles  of  natural 
science  generally  accessible.  It  certainly  is  in  the  pow- 
er of  almost  every  one,  by  pains  and  time  properly  be- 
stowed, to  acquire  a  decent  knowledge  of  every  branch 
of  practical  philosophy.  But  still,  it  would  appear, 
that,  even  now,  this  part  of  education  is  not  on  the 
right  footing.  Generally  speaking,  even  now,  all  actual 
instruction,  in  the  principles  of  natural  science,  is  con- 
fined to  the  colleges ;  and  the  colleges  are,  for  the 
most  part,  frequented,  only  by  those  intended  for  pro- 
fessional life.  The  elementary  knowledge  of  science, 
which  is  communicated  at  the  colleges,  is,  indeed,  use- 
ful, in  any  and  every  calling ;  but  it  does  not  seem 
right,  that  none  but  those  intended  for  the  pulpit,  the 
bar,  or  the  profession  of  medicine,  should  receive  in- 
struction in  those  principles,  which  regulate  the  opera- 
tion of  the  mechanical  powers,  and  lie  at  the  foundation 
of  complicated  machinery  ;  which  relate  to  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  seas,  the  smelting  and  refining  of  metals, 


7G  IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

the  composition  and  improvement  of  soils,  the  reduction 
to  a  uniform  whiteness  of  the  vegetable  fibre,  the  mix- 
ture and  application  of  colors,  the  motion  and  pressure 
of  fluids  in  large  masses,  the  nature  of  light  and  heat, 
the  laws  of  magnetism,  electricity,  and  galvanism.  It 
would  seem,  that  this  kind  of  knowledge  was  more  im- 
mediately requisite,  for  those  who  are  to  be  employed 
in  making  or  using  labor-saving  machinery,  who  are  to 
traverse  the  ocean,  to  lay  out  and  direct  the  construc- 
tion of  canals  and  rail-roads,  to  build  steam-engines  and 
hydraulic  presses,  to  work  mines,  and  to  conduct  large 
agricultural  and  manufacturing  establishments.  Hith- 
erto, with  some  partial  exceptions,  little  has  been  done 
systematically,  to  afford,  to  those  engaged  in  these  pur- 
suits, that  knowledge,  which,  however  convenient  to 
others,  would  seem  essential  to  them.  *  There  has  been 
scarce  any  thing,  which  could  be  called  education  for 
practical  life  ;  and  those  persons,  who,  in  the  pursuit 
of  any  of  the  useful  arts,  have  signalized  themselves, 
by  the  employment  of  scientific  principles,  for  the  in- 
vention of  new  processes,  or  the  improvement  of  the 
old,  have  been  self-educated  men. 

I  am  aware,  that  it  is  often  made  an  argument 
against  scientific  education,  that  the  greatest  discover- 
ies and  inventions  have  been  either  the  production  of 
such  self-educated  men,  or  have  been  struck  out  by 
accident.  There  certainly  is  some  truth  in  this.  So 
long  as  no  regular  system  of  scientific  education,  for 
the  working  classes,  exists,  it  is  a  matter  of  necessity, 
that,  if  any  great  improvement  be  made,  it  must  be  ei- 
ther the  result  of  accident,  or  the  happy  thought  of 
some  powerful  native  genius,  who  forces  his  way,  with- 
out education,  to  the  most  astonishing  results.  This, 
however,  is  no  more  the  case,  with  respect  to  the  useful 
arts  and  the  mechanical  pursuits,  than  with  respect  to  all 
the  other  occupations  of  society  ;  and  it  would  continue 
to  be  the  case,  after  the  establishment  of  the  best  sys- 
tem of  scientific  education.  We  find,  in  every  pursuit 
and  calling,  some  instances  of  remarkable  men,  who, 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  77 

without  an  early  education,  adapted  to  the  object,  have 
raised  themselves  to  great  eminence.  Lord  Chancel- 
lor King,  in  England,  was  a  grocer,  at  that  period  of 
life,  which  is  commonly  spent  in  academical  study,  by 
those  destined  for  the  profession  of  the  law.  Chief 
Justice  Pratt,  of  New  York,  having  been  brought  up  a 
carpenter,  was  led,  by  a  severe  cut  from  an  axe,  which 
unfitted  him  for  work,  to  turn  his  attention  to  the  law. 
Franklin,*  who  seemed  equally  to  excel,  in  the  conduct 
of  the  ordinary  business  of  life,  in  the  sublimest  studies 
of  philosophy,  and  in  the  management  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult state  aftairs,  was  bred  a  printer.  All  these  callings 
are  quite  respectable,  but  no  one  would  think  of  choos- 
ing either  of  them,  as  the  school  of  the  lawyer,  judge, 
or  statesman.  The  fact,  that  the  native  power  of  genius 
sometimes  makes  its  way,  against  all  obstacles,  and  un- 
der every  discouragement,  proves  nothing,  as  to  the 
course  which  it  is  expedient  for  the  generality  of  men 
to  pursue.  The  safe  path  to  excellence  and  success, 
in  every  calling,  is  that  of  appropriate  preliminary  edu- 
cation, diligent  application  to  learn  the  art,  and  assi- 
duity in  practising  it.  I  can  perceive  no  reason,  why 
this  course  should  not  be  followed,  in  reference  to  the 
mechanical,  as  well  as  the  professional,  callings.  The 
instances  of  eminent  men,  like  those  named,  and  many 
others  that  might  be  named,  such  as  Arkwright  and 
Harrison,f  who  have  sprung  from  the  depths  of  pover- 
ty, to  astonish  and  benefit  mankind,  no  more  prove  that 
education  is  useless  to  the  mechanic,  than  the  corres- 
ponding examples  prove  that  it  is  useless  to  the  states- 
man, jurist,  or  divine. 

Besides,  it  will  perhaps  be  found,  that  the  great  men, 
like  those  I  have  named,  instead  of  being  instances  to 
show  that  education  is  useless,  prove  only,  that,  occa- 

*  A  notice  of  Franklin  forms  one  of  the  volumes  of  '  THE  SCHOOL 
LIBRARY.' 

t  For  biographical  notices  of  Arkwright  and  Harrison,  see  a  Work 
entitled,  '  The  Pursuit  of  Knowledge  under  Difficulties,'  forming  a 
part  of 'THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY.' 

7* 


78  IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

sionally,  men,  who  commence  their  education  late,  are 
as  successful,  as  those  who  commence  it  early.  It  fol- 
lows, from  this,  not  that  an  early  education  is  no  bene- 
fit, but  that  the  \vant  of  it  may  sometimes  be  made  up, 
in  later  years.  It  might  be  so  made  up,  no  doubt,  of- 
tener  than  it  is ;  and  it  is,  in  this  Country,  much  more 
frequently  than  in  any  other. 

The  foundation  of  a  great  improvement  is,  also,  often 
a  single  conception,  which  suggests  itself  to  a  man  of 
strong  but  uneducated  mind ;  and  who  has  the  good 
fortune,  afterwards,  to  receive,  from  others,  that  aid, 
in  executing  his  projects,  without  which,  the  most  pro- 
mising conception  might  have  perished  undeveloped. 
Thus,  Sir  Richard  Arkwright  wanted  education,  but 
was  endowed  with  a  wonderful  quickness  of  mind. 
What  particular  circumstances  awakened  his  mechan- 
ical taste,  we  are  not  told.  There  is  some  reason  to 
think,  that  this,  like  other  strongly-marked  aptitudes, 
may  partly  depend  on  the  peculiar  organization  of  the 
body,  which  is  exactly  the  same  in  no  two  men.  The 
daily  observation  of  the  operation  of  the  spinning-wheel, 
in  the  cottages  of  the  peasantry  of  Lancashire,  (England,) 
gave  him  a  full  knowledge  of  the  existing  state  of  the 
art,  which  it  was  his  good  fortune  to  improve,  to  a  de- 
gree which  is  even  yet  the  wonder  of  the  world.  He 
conceived,  at  length,  the  idea  of  an  improved  machine 
for  spinning.  And  in  this  conception, — not  improbably 
a  flash  across  the  mind,  the  work  of  an  instant, — lay 
all  his  original  merit.  But  this  is  every  thing.  Amer- 
ica was  discovered,  from  the  moment  that  Columbus* 
firmly  grasped  the  idea,  that,  the  earth  being  spherical, 
the  Indies  might  be  reached,  by  sailing  on  a  westerly 
course.  If  the  actual  discovery  had  not  been  made,  for 
ages  after  the  death  of  Columbus,  he  would,  neverthe- 
less, in  publishing  this  idea  to  the  world,  have  been  the 
pilot  that  led  the  way,  whoever  had  followed  his  guid- 

*  For  an  account  of  the  Life  and  Voyages  of  Columbus,  see  Vol.  I 
of  <  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY,'  larger  Series  ;  and  Vol.  XI.  of  the 
smaller  or  Juvenile  Series. 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS   PURSUIT.  79 

ance.  Sir  Richard  Arkwright,  having  formed  the 
conception  of  his  spinning  machine,  had  recourse  to  a 
watchmaker,  to  execute  his  idea.  But  how  rarely  could 
it  happen,  that  circumstances  would  put  it  in  the  power 
of  a  person, — himself  ignorant  and  poor, — to  engage 
the  cooperation  of  an  intelligent  watchmaker  ! 

Neither  is  it  intended,  that  the  education  which  we 
recommend,  should  extend  to  a  minute  acquaintance 
with  the  practical  application  of  science  to  the  details 
of  every  art.  This  would  be  impossible,  and  does  not 
belong  to  preparatory  education.  We  wish,  only,  that 
the  general  laws  and  principles  should  be  so  taught,  as 
greatly  to  multiply  the  number  of  persons  competent  to 
carry  forward  such  casual  suggestions  of  improvement 
as  may  present  themselves,  and  to  bring  their  art  to  that 
state  of  increasing  excellence,  which  all  arts  reach,  by 
long-continued,  intelligent  cultivation. 

It  may  further  be  observed,  with  respect  to  those 
great  discoveries,  which  seem  to  be  produced  by  happy 
accidents  and  fortuitous  suggestion,  that  such  happy 
accidents  are  most  likely  to  fall  in  the  way  of  those,  who 
are  on  the  look-out  for  them ; — those  whose  mental 
eyesight  has  been  awakened  and  practised  to  behold 
them.  The  world  is  informed  of  all  the  cases  in  which 
such  fortunate  accidents  have  led  to  useful  and  brilliant 
results ;  but  their  number  would  probably  appear  smal- 
ler than  it  is  now  supposed  to  be,  were  such  a  thing 
possible  as  the  negative  history  of  discovery  and  im- 
provement. No  one  can  tell  us,  what  might  have  been 
done,  had  every  opportunity  been  faithfully  improv- 
ed, every  suggestion  sagaciously  caught  up  and  follow- 
ed out.  No  one  can  tell,  how  often  the  uneducated 
or  unobservant  mind  has  approached  to  the  very  verge 
of  a  great  discovery, — lias  had  some  wonderful  inven- 
tion almost  thrust  upon  it, — but  without  effect.  The 
ancients,  as  we  learn  from  many  passages  in  the  Greek 
and  Latin  classics,  were  acquainted  with  convex  lenses, 
but  did  not  apply  them  to  the  construction  of  magnify- 
ing glasses  or  telescopes.  They  made  use  of  seal-rings 


80  IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

with  inscriptions ;  and  they  marked  their  flocks  with 
brands,  containing  the  owner's  name.  In  each  of  these 
practices,  faint  rudiments  of  the  art  of  printing  are  con- 
cealed. Cicero,  in  one  of  his  moral  works,  (J)e  Natura 
Deorum*}  in  confuting  the  error  of  those  philosophers, 
who  taught  that  the  world  was  produced  by  the  for- 
tuitous concourse  of  wandering  atoms,  uses  the  follow- 
ing language,  as  curious,  in  connexion  with  the  point 
I  would  illustrate,  as  it  is  beautiful  in  expression,  and 
powerful  in  argument : — "  Here,"  says  he,  "  must  I  not 
wonder,  if  there  should  be  a  man,  who  can  persuade 
himself,  that  certain  solid  and  separate  bodies  are  borne 
about  by  force  or  weight,  and  that  this  most  beautiful 
and  finished  world  is  formed  by  their  accidental  meet- 
ing ?  Whoever  can  think  this  possible,  I  do  not  see 
why  he  cannot  also  believe,  that,  if  a  large  number  of 
forms  of  the  one  and  twenty  letters,  (of  gold  or  any 
like  substance,)  were  thrown  any  where  together,  the 
annals  of  Ennius  might  be  made  out  from  them,  as 
they  are  cast  on  the  ground,  so  as  to  be  read  in  order ; 
a  thing  which  I  know  not  if  it  be  within  the  power  of 
chance  to  effect,  even  in  a  single  verse."  How  very 
near  an  approach  is  made,  in  this  remark,  to  the  inven- 
tion of  the  art  of  printing,  fifteen  hundred  years  before 
it  took  place ! 

How  slight  and  familiar  was  the  occurrence,  which 
gave  to  Sir  Isaac  Newtonf  the  first  suggestion  of  his 
system  of  the  universe  !  This  great  man  had  been  driv- 
en, by  the  plague,  from  London  to  the  country,  and 
had  left  his  library  behind  him.  Obliged  to  find  occu- 
pation, in  the  activity  of  his  own  mind, -he  was  led,  in 
his  meditations,  to  trace  the  extent  of  the  principle 
which  occasioned  the  fall  of  an  apple,  from  the  tree,  in 
the  garden  where  he  passed  his  solitary  hours.  Com- 
mencing with  this  familiar  hint,  he  followed  it  out,  to 

*On  the  nature  of  the  gods. 

t  For  a  notice  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  see  the  first  Volume  of  '  The 
Pursuit  of  Knowledge  under  Difficulties,'  in  '  THE  SCHOOL  LI- 
BRARY.' 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  81 

that  universal  law  of  gravity,  which  binds  the  parts  of 
the  earth  and  ocean  together,  which  draws  the  moon  to 
the  earth,  the  satellites  to  the  planets,  the  planets  to  the 
sun,  and  the  sun  itself,  with  its  attendant  worlds,  toward 
some  grand  and  general  point  of  attraction  for  that  infin- 
ity of  systems,  of  which  the  several  stars  are  the  centres. 
How  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men,  since  the 
creation  of  the  world,  had  seen  an  apple  fall  from  a 
tree  !  How  many  philosophers  had  speculated,  pro- 
foundly, on  the  system  of  the  universe !  But  it  required 
the  talent  of  a  man  placed,  by  general  consent,  at  the 
head  of  the  human  race,  to  deduce  from  this  familiar 
occurrence  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  the  operation  of 
the  primordial  law  of  Nature,  which  governs  the  move- 
ments of  the  heavens,  and  holds  the  universe  together. 
Nothing  less  than  his  sagacity  could  have  made  the 
deduction,  and  nothing  less  than  a  mathematical  skill, 
and  an  acquaintance  with  the  previously  ascertained 
principles  of  science,  such  as  falls  to  the  lot  of  very  few, 
would  have  enabled  Newton  to  demonstrate  the  truth 
of  his  system. 

Let  us  quote  another  example,  to  show  that  the  most 
obvious  and  familiar  facts  may  be  noticed,  for  ages,  with- 
out effect,  till  they  are  observed  by  a  sagacious  eye,  and 
scrutinized  with  patience  and  perseverance.  The  ap- 
pearance of  lightning,  in  the  clouds,  is  as  old  as  the 
creation  ;  and  certainly,  no  natural  phenomenon  forces 
itself  more  directly  on  the  notice  of  men.  The  existence 
of  the  electric  fluid,  as  excited  by  artificial  means,  was 
familiarly  known  to  philosophers,  a  hundred  years  be- 
fore Franklin ;  and  there  are  a  few  vague  hints,  prior 
to  his  time,  that  lightning  is  an  electrical  appearance. 
But  it. was  left  for  Franklin,  distinctly  to  conceive  that 
proposition,  and  to  institute  an  experiment,  by  which  it 
should  be  demonstrated.  The  process,  by  which  he 
reached  this  great  conclusion,  is  worth  remembering. 
Dr.  Franklin  had  seen  the  most  familiar  electrical  exper- 
iments performed  at  Boston,  in  1745,  by  a  certain  Dr. 
Spence,  a  Scotch  lecturer.  His  curiosity  being  excited, 


82  IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

by  witnessing  these  experiments,  he  purchased  the  whole 
of  Dr.  Spence's  apparatus,  and  repeated  the  experi- 
ments at  Philadelphia.  Pursuing  his  researches,  with 
his  own  instruments,  and  others  which  had  been  liberal- 
ly presented  to  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania,  by  the  Pro- 
prietor, Mr.  Penn,  and  by  Dr.  Franklin's  friend,  Mr.  Col- 
linson,  our  illustrious  countryman  rapidly  enlarged  the 
bounds  of  electrical  science,  and  soon  arrived  at  the 
undoubting  conviction,  that  the  electrical  fluid  and 
lightning  are  identical.  But  he  could  not  rest,  till  he 
had  brought  this  truth  to  the  test  of  demonstration,  and 
he  boldly  set  about  an  experiment,  upon  the  most  ter- 
rific element  in  Nature.  He  at  first  proposed,  by  means 
of  a  spire,  which  was  erecting  in  Philadelphia,  to  form 
a  connexion  between  the  region  of  the  clouds  and  an 
electrical  apparatus  ;  but  the  appearance  of  a  boy's  kite, 
in  the  air,  suggested  to  him  a  readier  method.  Having 
prepared  a  kite,  adapted  for  the  purpose,  he  went  out 
into  a  field,  accompanied  by  his  son,  to  whom  alone, 
he  had  imparted  his  design.  The  kite  was  raised,  hav- 
ing a  key  attached  to  the  lower  end  of  the  cord,  and 
being  insulated,  by  means  of  a  silken  thread,  by  which 
it  was  fastened  to  a  post.  A  heavy  cloud,  apparently 
charged  with  lightning,  passed  over  the  kite ;  but  no 
signs  of  electricity  were  witnessed  in  the  apparatus. 
Franklin  was  beginning  to  despair,  when  he  saw  the 
loose  fibres  bristling  from  the  hempen  cord.  He  imme- 
diately presented  his  knuckle  to  the  key,  and  received 
the  electrical  spark.  Overcome  by  his  feelings,  at  the 
consummation  of  this  great  discovery,  "  he  heaved  a 
deep  sigh,  and,  conscious  of  an  immortal  name,  felt 
that  he  could  have  been  content,  had  that  moment  been 
his  last."  How  easily  it  might  have  been  his  last,  was 
shown  by  the  fact,  that  when  Professor  Richman,  a 
few  months  afterwards,  was  repeating  this  experiment 
at  St.  Petersburg!!,  a  globe  of  fire  flashed  from  the  con- 
ducting-rod  to  his  forehead,  and  killed  him  on  the  spot. 
Brilliant  as  Dr.  Franklin's  discoveries  in  electricity 
were,  and  much  as  he  advanced  the  science,  by  his  sa- 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS   PURSUIT.  83 

gacious  experiments  and  unwearied  investigations,  a 
rich  harvest  of  further  discoveries  was  left  by  him  to  the 
succeeding  age.  The  most  extraordinary  of  these  is, 
the  discovery  of  a  modification  of  electricity,  which  bears 
the  name  of  the  philosopher  by  whom  it  was  made  known 
to  the  world  ; — I  refer,  of  course,  to  Galvanism.  Lewis 
Galvani  was  an  anatomist,  in  Bologna.  On  a  table  in 
his  study,  lay  some  frogs,  which  had  been  prepared  for 
a  broth,  for  his  wife,  who  was  ill.  An  electrical  ma- 
chine stood  on  the  table.  A  student  of  Galvani  acci- 
dentally touched  the  nerve,  on  the  inside  of  the  leg  of 
one  of  the  frogs,  and  convulsions  immediately  took  place 
in  the  body  of  the  animal.  Galvani  himself  was  not 
present  at  the  moment,  but  this  curious  circumstance 
caught  the  attention  of  his  wife, — a  lady  of  education 
and  talent, — who  ascribed  it  to  some  influence  of  the 
electrical  machine.  She  informed  her  husband  of  what 
had  happened,  and  it  was  his  opinion,  also,  that  the 
electrical  machine  was  the  origin  of  the  convulsions.  A 
long-continued  and  patient  course  of  investigation  cor- 
rected this  error,  and  established  the  science  of  Galvanic 
electricity,  nearly  as  it  now  exists,  and  which  has  proved, 
in  the  hands  of  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  the  agent  of  the 
most  brilliant  and  astonishing  discoveries.  Frogs  have 
been  a  common  article  of  food,  in  Europe,  for  ages ; 
but  it  was  only  when  they  were  brought  into  the  study 
of  the  anatomist,  and  fell  beneath  the  notice  of  a  saga- 
cious eye,  that  they  became  the  occasion  of  this  brilliant 
discovery. 

In  all  these  examples  we  see,  that,  whatever  be  the 
first  origin  of  a  great  discovery  or  improvement,  science 
and  study  are  required  to  perfect  and  illustrate  it.  The 
want  of  a  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  science  has  often 
led  men  to  waste  much  time  on  pursuits,  which  a  better 
acquaintance  with  those  principles  would  have  taught 
them  were  hopeless.  The  patent  office,  in  every  coun- 
try where  such  an  institution  exists,  contains,  perhaps, 
as  many  machines,  which  show  the  want,  as  the  posses- 
sion, of  sound  scientific  knowledge.  Besides  unsuccess- 


84  IMPORTANCK  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

ful  essays  at  machinery,  holding  forth  a  promise  of  fea 
sibility,  no  little  ingenuity,  and  much  time  and  money, 
have  been  lavished  on  a  project,  which  seems,  in  mod- 
ern times,  to  supply  the  place  of  the  philosopher's  stone 
of  the  alchymists ; — I  mean,  a  contrivance  for  perpet 
ual  motion  ;  a  contrivance  inconsistent  with  the  law  of 
gravity.  A  familiar  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of 
science  is  useful,  not  only  to  guide  the  mind  to  the  discov 
ery  of  what  is  true  and  practical,  but  to  protect  it  from 
the  delusions  of  an  excited  imagination,  ready  to  waste 
itself,  in  the  ardor  of  youth,  enterprise,  and  conscious 
ingenuity,  on  that,  which  the  laws  of  Nature  herself 
have  made  unattainable. 

Such  are  some  of  the  considerations,  which  show  the 
general  utility  of  scientific  education,  for  those  engaged 
in  the  mechanical  arts.  Let  us  now  advert  to  some  of 
the  circumstances,  which  ought,  particularly  in  the  Uni- 
ted States  of  America,  to  act  as  encouragements,  to  the 
young  men  of  the  country,  to  apply  themselves  earnest- 
ly, and,  as  far  as  it  can  be  done,  systematically,  to  the 
attainment  of  such  an  education. 

I.  And,  first,  it  is  beyond  all  question,  that  what  are 
called  the  mechanical  trades  of  this  Country  are  on  a 
much  more  liberal  footing  than  they  are  in  Europe. 
This  circumstance  not  only  ought  to  encourage  those 
who  pursue  them,  to  take  an  honest  pride  in  improve- 
ment, but  it  makes  it  theif  incumbent  duty  to  do  so. 
In  almost  every  country  of  Europe,  various  restraints 
are  imposed  on  the  mechanics,  which  almost  amount 
to  slavery.  Much  censure  has  been  lately  thrown 
on  the  journeymen  printers  of  Paris,  for  entering  into 
combinations  not  to  work  for  their  employers,  and  for 
breaking  up  the  power-presses,  which  were  used  by  the 
great  employing  printers.  I  certainly  shall  not  under- 
take to  justify  any  acts  of  illegal  violence,  and  the  de- 
struction of  property.  But,  when  you  consider,  that 
no  man  can  be  a  master-printer,  in  France,  without  a 
license,  and  that  only  eighty  licenses  were  granted  in 
Paris,  it  is  by  no  means  wonderful,  that  the  journeymen, 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  85 

forbidden  by  law  to  set  up  for  themselves,  and  prevent- 
ed, by  the  power-presses,  from  getting  work  from  oth- 
ers, should  be  disposed,  after  having  carried  through  one 
revolution  for  the  government,  to  undertake  another  for 
themselves.  Of  what  consequence  is  it,  to  a  man,  for- 
bidden by  the  law  to  work  for  his  living,  whether  Charles 
X.,  or  Louis  Philip,  is  king? 

In  England,  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  for  a  mechan- 
ic to  obtain  a  settlement,  in  any  town  except  that  in 
which  he  was  born,  or  where  he  served  his  apprentice- 
ship. The  object  of  imposing  these  restrictions  is,  of 
course,  to  enforce  on  each  parish,  the  maintenance  of 
its  native  poor  ;  and  the  resort  of  mechanics,  from  place 
to  place,  is  permitted,  only  on  conditions  with  which 
many  of  them  are  unable  to  comply.  The  consequence 
is,  they  are  obliged  to  stay  where  they  were  born ; 
where,  perhaps,  there  are  already  more  hands  than  can 
find  work  ;  and,  from  the  decline  of  the  place,  even 
the  established  artisans  want  employment.  Chained  to 
such  a  spot,  where  chance  and  necessity  have  bound 
him,  the  young  man  feels  himself  but  half  free.  He  is 
thwarted  in  his  choice  of  a  pursuit  for  life,,  and  obliged 
to  take  up  with  an  employment  against  his  preference, 
because  there  is  no  opening  in  any  other.  He  is  de- 
pressed, in  his  own  estimation,  because  he  finds  himself 
unprotected  in  society.  The  least  evil,  likely  to  befall 
him,  is,  that  he  drags  along  a  discouraged  and  unpro- 
ductive existence.  He  more  naturally  falls  into  dissi- 
pation and  vice,  or  enlists  in  the  army  or  navy ;  while 
the  place  of  his  nativity  gradually  sinks  into  decay. 

In  other  countries,  singular  institutions  exist,  impos- 
ing oppressive  burdens  on  the  mechanical  classes.  I 
refer,  now,  more  particularly,  to  the  corporations,  guilds, 
or  crafts,  as  they  are  called,  that  is,  to  the  companies 
formed  by  the  members  of  a  particular  trade.  These 
exist,  with  great  privileges,  in  every  part  of  Europe  ;  in 
Germany,  there  are  some  features  in  the  institution,  as 
it  seems  to  me,  peculiarly  oppressive.  The  different 
crafts,  in  that  Country,  are  incorporations,  recognised 

8  E.  E. 


86  IMPORTANCE  OF   SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

by  law,  governed  by  usages  of  great  antiquity,  with 
funds  to  defray  the  corporate  expenses,  and  in  each 
considerable  town,  a  house  of  entertainment  is  selected, 
as  the  house  of  call,  (or  harbor,  as  it  is  styled,)  of  each 
particular  craft.  No  one  is  allowed  to  set  up  as  a  mas- 
ter-workman, in  any  trade,  unless  he  is  admitted  as  a 
freeman,  or  member  of  the  craft ;  and  such  is  the  sta- 
tionary condition  of  most  parts  of  Germany,  that,  as  I 
understand,  no  person  is  admitted  as  a  master-work- 
man, in  any  trade,  except  to  supply  the  place  of  some 
one  deceased,  or  retired  from  business.  When  such  a 
vacancy  occurs,  all  those,  desirous  of  being  permitted 
to  fill  it,  present  a  piece  of  work,  which  is  called  their 
masterpiece,  being  offered  to  obtain  the  place  of  a  mas- 
ter-workman. Nominally,  the  best  workman  gets  the 
place ;  but  you  will  easily  conceive,  that,  in  reality, 
some  kind  of  favoritism  must  generally  decide  the  ques- 
tion. Thus  is  every  man  obliged  to  submit  to  all  the 
chances  of  a  popular  election,  whether  he  shall  be  al- 
lowed to  work  for  his  bread ;  and  that,  too,  in  a  coun- 
try where  the  people  are  not  permitted  to  have  any 
agency  in  choosing  their  rulers. 

But  the  restraints  on  journeymen,  in  that  Country, 
are  still  more  oppressive.  As  soon  as  the  years  of  ap- 
prenticeship have  expired,  the  young  mechanic  is  obliged, 
in  the  phrase  of  the  country,  to  wander,  for  three  years. 
For  this  purpose,  he  is  furnished,  by  the  master  of  the 
craft  in  which  he  has  served  his  apprenticeship,  with 
a  duly-authenticated  wandering  book,  with  which  he 
goes  forth,  to  seek  employment.  In  whatever  city  he 
arrives,  on  presenting  himself,  with  this  credential,  at 
the  house  of  call,  or  harbor,  of  the  craft  in  which  he 
has  served  his  time,  he  is  allowed,  gratis,  a  day's  food 
and  a  night's  lodging.  If  he  wishes  to  get  employment, 
in  that  place,  he  is  assisted  in  procuring  it.  If  he  does 
not  wish  to  get  employment,  or  fails  in  the  attempt,  he 
must  pursue  his  wandering ;  and  this  lasts,  for  three 
years,  before  he  can  be  any  where  admitted  as  a  mas- 
ter. I  have  heard  it  argued,  that  this  system  had  the 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  87 

advantage  of  circulating  knowledge,  from  place  to  place, 
and  imparting  to  the  young  artisan  the  fruits  of  travel 
and  intercourse  with  the  world.  But,  however  benefi- 
cial travelling  may  be,  when  undertaken  by  those  who 
have  the  taste  and  capacity  to  profit  by  it,  I  cannot  but 
think,  that,  to  compel  every  young  man,  who  has  just 
served  out  his  time,  to  leave  his  home,  in  the  manner 
I  have  described,  must  bring  his  habits  and  morals  in- 
to peril,  and  be  regarded  rather  as  a  hardship,  than  as 
an  advantage.  There  is  no  sanctuary  of  virtue,  like 
home. 

You  will  see,  from  these  few  hints,  the  nature  of 
some  of  the  restraints  and  oppressions,  to  which  the 
mechanical  industry  of  Europe  is  subjected.  Where-- 
ever  governments  and  corporations  thus  interfere  with 
private  industry,  the  spring  of  personal  enterprise  is  un- 
bent. Men  are  depressed,  with  a  consciousness  of  liv- 
ing under  control.  They  cease  to  feel  a  responsibility 
for  themselves,  and,  encountering  obstacles,  whenever 
they  step  from  the  beaten  path,  they  give  up  improve- 
ment, as  hopeless.  I  need  not,  in  the  presence  of  this 
audience,  remark  on  the  total  difference  of  things  in 
America.  We  are  apt  to  think,  that  the  only  thing,  in 
which  we  have  improved  on  other  countries,  is  our  po- 
litical constitution,  whereby  we  choose  our  rulers,  in- 
stead of  recognising  their  hereditary  right.  But  a  much 
more  important  difference,  between  us  and  foreign  coun- 
tries, is  wrought  into  the  very  texture  of  our  society  ; 
it  is,  that  generally  pervading  freedom  from  restraint, 
in  matters  like  those  I  have  just  specified.  In  England, 
it  is  said,  that  forty  days'  undisturbed  residence  in  a 
parish  gives  a  journeyman  mechanic  a  settlement,  and 
consequently  entitles  him,  should  he  need  it,  to  sup- 
port, from  the  poor  rates  of  that  parish.  To  obviate 
this  effect,  the  magistrates  are  on  the  alert,  and  instant- 
ly expel  a  new-comer  from  their  limits,  who  does  not 
possess  means  of  giving  security,  such  as  few  young 
mechanics  command.  A  duress  like  this,  environing 
the  young  man,  on  his  entrance  into  life,  upon  every 


88  IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

side,  and  condemning  him  to  imprisonment,  for  life,  on 
the  spot  where  he  was  born,  converts  the  government 
of  the  country,  whatever  be  its  name,  into  a  des- 
potism. 

II.  There  is  another  consideration,  which  invites  the 
artisans  of  this  Country  to  improve  their  minds ;  it  is 
the  vastly  wider  field  which  is  opened  to  them,  as  the 
citizens  of  a  new  country ;  and  the  proportionate  call 
which  exists,  for  labor  and  enterprise,  in  every  depart- 
ment. In  the  Old  World,  society  is  full.  In  every 
country,  but  England,  it  has  long  been  full.  It  was  in 
that  Country  not  less  crowded,  till  the  vast  improve- 
ments in  machinery  and  manufacturing  industry  were 
made,  which  have  rendered  it,  in  reference  to,  manu- 
factures and  commerce,  what  ours  is,  still  more  remark- 
ably, in  every  thing,  a  new  country,  a  country  of  urgent 
and  expansive  demand,  where  new  branches  of  employ- 
ment are  constantly  opening,  new  kinds  of  talent  called 
for,  new  arts  struck  out,  and  more  hands  employed,  in 
all  the  old  ones.  In  different  parts  of  our  Country,  the 
demand  is  of  a  different  kind,  but  it  is  active  and  stirring 
every  where. 

It  may  not  be  without  use,  to  consider  the  various 
causes  of  this  enlargement  of  the  field  of  action,  in  this 
Country. 

The  first  and  perhaps  the  main  cause  is,  the  great 
abundance  of  good  land,  which  lies  open,  on  the  easiest 
conditions,  to  every  man  who  wishes  to  avail  himself 
of  it.  Land  of  the  first  quality  can  be  purchased,  at  the 
rate  of  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  acre.  This 
circumstance,  alone,  acts  like  a  safety-valve  to  the  great 
social  steam-engine.  There  can  be  no  very  great  pres- 
sure, any  where,  in  a  community,  where,  by  travelling 
a  few  hundred  miles  into  the  interior,  a  man  can  buy 
land  at  the  rate  of  an  acre  for  a  day's  work.  This  was 
the  first  stimulus,  applied  to  the  condition  of  things,  in 
this  Country,  after  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  it  is  still 
operating,  in  full  force. 

The  next  powerful  spring  to  our  industry  was  fell 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  89 

in  the  navigating  interest.  This  languished,  greatly, 
under  the  old  Confederation,  being  crushed  by  foreign 
competition.  The  adoption  of  the  Constitution  breath- 
ed the  breath  of  life  into  it.  By  the  duty  on  foreign 
tonnage,  and  by  the  confinement  of  the  privilege  of  an 
American  vessel  to  an  American-built  ship,  our  com- 
mercial marine  sprang  into  existence,  with  the  rapidity 
of  magic,  and,  under  a  peculiar  state  of  things  in  Eu- 
rope, appropriated  to  itself  the  carrying  trade  of  the 
world. 

Shortly  after  this  stimulus  was  applied  to  the  indus- 
try of  the  Northern  and  Middle  States,  the  Southern 
States  acquired  an  equally  prolific  source  of  wealth,  un- 
expected, and  rapid  beyond  example  in  its  operation  ; 
— I  mean,  the  cultivation  of  cotton.  In  1789,  the  hope 
was  expressed,  by  southern  members  of  Congress,  that, 
if  good  seed  could  be  procured,  cotton  might  be  raised 
141  the  Southern  States,  where,  before  that  time,  and 
for  several  years  after,  not  a  pound  had  been  raised  for 
exportation.  The  culture  of  this  beautiful  staple  was 
encouraged,  by  a  duty  of  three  cents  a  pound,  on  im- 
ported cotton  ;  but  it  languished,  for  some  time,  on  ac- 
count of  the  difficulty  of  separating  the  seed  from  the 
fibre.  At  length,  Eli  Whitney,*  of  Connecticut,  in- 
vented the  saw-gin  ;  and  so  prodigiously  has  this  cul- 
ture increased,  that  it  is  calculated  that  the  cotton  crop, 
of  last  year,  amounted  to  one  million  of  bales,  of  at 
least  three  hundred  pounds  each. 

In  1807,  the  first  successful  essays  were  made  with 
steam  navigation.  The  progress,  at  first,  was  slow. 
In  1817,  there  was  not  such  a  thing,  as  a  regular  line 
of  steam-boats  on  the  western  waters.  Nearly  four 
hundred  steam-boats  now  ply  those  waters,  and  half  as 
many  navigate  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  coast. 

The  embargo  and  war  created  the  manufactures  of 

*  For  a  notice  of  Whitney's  cotton-gin,  see  Vol.1,  of  'The  Useful 
Arts,  considered  in  connexion  with  the  Applications  of  Science,"  by 
Jacob  Bigelow,  M.  D.,  forming  the  eleventh  volume  of '  THE  SCHOOL 
LIBRARY.' 

8* 


90  IMPORTANCE   OF   SCIENTIFIC   KNOWLEDGE, 

the  United  States.  Before  that  period,  nothing  was 
done,  on  a  large  scale,  in  the  way  of  manufactures. 
With  some  fluctuations  in  prosperity,  they  have  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  themselves  on  a  firm  basis.  A 
laboring  man  can  now  buy  two  good  shirts,  well  made, 
for  a  dollar.  Fifteen  years  ago,  they  would  have  cost 
him  three  times  that  sum. 

Still  more  recently,  a  system  of  internal  improve- 
ments has  been  commenced,  which  will  have  the  effect, 
when  a  little  further  developed,  of  crowding  within  a 
few  years,  the  progress  of  generations.  Already,  Lake 
Champlain,  from  the  north,  and  Lake  Erie,  from  the 
west,  have  been  connected  with  Albany.  The  Dela- 
ware and  Chesapeake  Bays  have  been  united.  A  ca- 
nal is  nearly  finished,  in  .the  upper  part  of  New  Jersey, 
from  the  Delaware  to  the  Hudson,  by  which  coal  is  al- 
ready despatched  to  our  market.  Another  route  is  laid 
out,  across  the  same  State,  to  connect  New  York,  ^y 
a  rail-road,  with  Philadelphia.  A  water-communication 
has  been  opened,  by  canals,  half  way  from  Philadelphia 
to  Pittsburgh.  Considerable  progress  is  made,  both  on 
the  rail-road  and  the  canal,  which  are  to  unite  Balti- 
more and  Washington  with  the  Ohio  river.  A  canal 
of  sixty  miles  in  length  is  open,  from  Cincinnati  to  Day- 
ton, in  the  State  of  Ohio ;  and  another,  of  more  than 
three  hundred  miles  in  extent,  to  connect  Lake  Erie 
with  the  Ohio,  is  two  thirds  completed.* 

I  mention  these  facts,  (which,  though  among  the  most 
considerable,  are  by  no  means  all,  of  the  same  charac- 
ter, which  might  be  quoted,)  not  merely,  as  being  in 
themselves  curious  and  important ;  though  this  they 
are,  in  a  high  degree.  My  object  is,  to  turn  your  atten- 
tion to  their  natural  effect,  in  keeping  up  a  constant  and 
high  demand  for  labor,  art,  skill,  and  talent  of  all  kinds, 
and  their  accumulated  fruits,  that  is,  capital ;  and  there- 
by particularly  inviting  the  young,  to  exert  themselves 

*  Most  of  the  works  here  mentioned,  as  being  in  progress,  in  1827, 
are  now  (1840)  completed,  and  innumerable  others  have  since  been 
undertaken  or  projected. 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUlf.  91 

strenuously,  to  take  an  active,  industrious,  and  honora- 
ble part,  in  a  community,  which  has  such  a  variety  of 
employments  and  rewards  for  all  its  members.  The 
rising  generation  beholds  before  it  not  a  crowded  com- 
munity, but  one  where  labor,  both  of  body  and  mind, 
is  in  greater  request,  and  bears  a  higher  relative  price, 
than  in  any  other  country.  When  it  is  said  that  labor 
is  dear  in  this  Country,  this  is  not  a  mere  commercial 
proposition,  like  those  which  fill  the  pages  of  the  price 
current ;  but  it  is  a  great  moral  fact,  speaking  volumes, 
as  to  the  state  of  society,  and  reminding  the  American 
citizen,  particularly  the  young  man  who  is  beginning 
life,  that  he  lives  in  a  country,  where  every  man  car- 
ries about  with  him  the  thing  in  greatest  request ;  where 
the  labor  and  skill  of  the  human  hands,  and  every  kind 
of  talent  and  acquisition,  possess  a  relative  importance, 
elsewhere  unknown  ;  in  other  words,  where  an  indus- 
trious man  is  of  the  greatest  consequence. 

These  considerations  are  well  calculated  to  awaken 
enterprise,  to  encourage  effort,  to  support  perseverance  ; 
and  we  behold,  on  every  side,  that  such  is  their  effect. 
I  have  already  alluded  to  the  astonishing  growth  of  our 
navigation,  after  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  constitution. 
It  affords  an  example,  which  will  bear  dwelling  upon,  of 
American  enterprise,  placed  in  honorable  contrast  with 
that  of  Europe.  In  Great  Britian,  and  in  other  coun- 
tries of  Europe,  the  India  and  China  trade  was,  and  to 
a  great  degree  still  is,  locked  up,  by  the  monopoly  en- 
joyed by  affluent  companies,  protected  and  patronised 
by  the  state,  and  clothed,  themselves,  in  some  cases, 
with  imperial  power.  The  territories  of  the  British 
East  India  Company  are  computed  to  embrace  a  pop- 
lation  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  millions  of  souls. 
The  consequence  of  this  state  of  tilings  was,  not  the  ac- 
tivity, but  the  embarrassment,  of  the  commercial  inter- 
course with  the  East.  Individual  enterprise  was  not 
awakened.  The  companies  sent  out,  annually,  their 
unwieldy  vessels,  of  twelve  hundred  tons  burden,  com- 
manded by  salaried  captains,  to  carry  on  the  commerce. 


92  IMPORTANCE  OF   SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

which  was  secured  to  them,  by  a  government  monop 
oly,  and  which,  it  was  firmly  believed,  could  not  be 
carried  on,  in  any  other  way.  Scarcely  was  American 
Independence  declared,  when  our  moderate-sized  mer- 
chant vessels,  built  with  economy,  and  navigated  with 
frugality,  doubled  both  the  great  capes  of  the  world. 
The  northwestern  coast  of  America  began  to  be  crowd- 
ed. Not  content  with  visiting  old  markets,  our  intelli- 
gent shipmasters  explored  the  numerous  islands  of  the 
Indian  Archipelago.  Vessels  from  Salem  and  Boston, 
of  two  and  three  hundred  tons,  went  to  ports  in  those 
seas,  that  had  not  been  visited,  by  a  foreign  ship,  since 
the  days  of  Alexander  the  Great.  The  intercourse  be- 
tween Boston  and  the  Sandwich  Islands  was  uninter- 
rupted. A  man  would  no  more  have  thought  of  boast- 
ing, that  he  had  been  round  the  world,  than  that  he 
had  been  to  Liverpool.  After  Lord  Anson  and  Cap- 
tain Cook  had,  by  order  and  at  the  expense  of  the 
British  government,  made  their  laborious  voyages  of 
discovery  and  exploration  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  on 
the  coast  of  America,  it  still  remained  for  a  merchant 
vessel,  from  Boston,  to  discover  and  enter  the  only 
considerable  river  that  flows  into  the  Pacific,  from  Bchr- 
ing's  Strait  to  Cape  Horn.  Our  fellow-citizen,  Captain 
Gray,  piloted  the  British  admiral,  Vancouver,  into  the 
Columbia  river,  over  which,  the  British  government  now 
claims  jurisdiction,  partly  on  the  ground  of  prior  dis- 
covery. 

This  is  a  single  instance  of  the  propitious  effect,  on 
individual  enterprise,  of  the  condition  of  things  under 
which  we  live.  But  the  work  is  not  all  done  ;  it  is,  in 
fact,  hardly  begun.  This  vast  continent  is,  as  yet,  no- 
where fully  stocked, — almost  every  where  thinly  peo- 
pled. There  are  yet  mighty  regions  of  it,  in  which 
the  settler's  axe  has  never  been  heard.  These  remain, 
and  portions  of  them  will  long  remain,  open  for  coming 
generations,  a  sure  preservative  against  the  evils  of  a 
redundant  population  on  the  seaboard.  The  older 
parts  of  the  country,  which  have  been  settled  by  the 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  93 

husbandman,  and  reclaimed  from  the  state  of  nature, 
are  now  to  be  settled,  again,  by  the  manufacturer,  the 
engineer,  and  the  mechanic.  First  settled  by  a  civiliz- 
ed, they  are  now  to  be  settled  by  a  dense,  population. 
Settled  by  the  hard  labor  of  the  human  hands,  they  are 
now  to  be  settled  by  the  labor-saving  arts,  by  machin- 
ery, by  the  steam-engine,  and  by  internal  improvements. 
Hitherto,  the  work  to  be  done  was  that,  which  nothing 
but  the  tough  sinews  of  the  arm  of  man  could  accom- 
plish. This  work,  in  most  of  the  old  States,  and  some 
of  the  new  ones,  has  been  done,  and  is  finished.  It 
was  performed,  under  incredible  hardships,  fearful  dan- 
gers, with  heart-sickening  sacrifices,  amidst  the  perils 
of  savage  tribes,  and  of  the  diseases  incident  to  a  soil 
on  which  deep  forests,  for  a  thousand  years,  had  been 
laying  their  deposit,  and  which  was  now,  for  the  first 
time,  opened  to  the  sun.  The  kind,  the  degree,  the 
intensity,  of  the  labor,  which  has  been  performed  by  the 
men  who  settled  this  Country,  have,  I  am  sure,  no 
parallel  in  history.  I  believe,  if  a  thrifty  European 
farmer  from  Norfolk,  in  England,  or  from  Flanders,  a 
vine-dresser  from  Burgundy,  an  olive-gardener  from 
Italy,  under  the  influence  of  no  stronger  feelings  than 
such  as  actuate  the  mass  of  the  stationary  population 
of  those  countries,  were  set  down,  in  a  North  American 
forest,  with  an  axe  on  his  shoulder,  and  told  to  get  his 
living,  that  his  heart  would  fail  him  at  the  sight.  What 
has  been  the  slow  work  of  two  thousand  years,  in  Eu- 
rope, has  here  been  effected  in  two  hundred,  unques- 
tionably under  the  cheering  moral  effect  of  our  free 
institutions.  We  have  now,  in  some  parts  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  reached  a  point  in  our  progress,  where,  to  a 
considerable  degree,  a  new  form  of  society  will  appear ; 
in  which  the  wants  of  a  settled  country,  and  a  com- 
paratively dense  population,  will  succeed  to  those  of  a 
thin  population,  scattered  over  a  soil,  as  yet  but  partial- 
ly reclaimed.  We  shall  henceforth  feel,  more  and  more, 
the  want  of  improved  means  of  communication.  We 
must,  in  every  direction,  have  turnpike  roads,  unob- 


94  IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

structed  rivers,  canals,  rail-roads,  and  steam-boats.  The 
mineral  treasures  of  the  earth, — metals,  coals,  ochres, 
fine  clay,  limestone,  gypsum,  salt, — are  to  be  brought 
to  light,  and  applied  to  the  purposes  of  the  arts,  and 
the  service  of  man.  Another  immense  capital,  which 
Nature  has  invested  for  us,  in  the  form  of  water-power, 
(a  natural  capital,  which  I  take  to  be  fully  equal  to  the 
steam  capital  of  Great  Britain,)  is  to  be  turned  to  ac- 
count, by  being  made  to  give  motion  to  machinery. 
Still  another  vast  capital,  lying  unproductive,  in  the 
form  of  land,  is  to  be  realized,  and  no  small  part  of  it. 
for  the  first  time,  by  improved  cultivation.  All  the 
manufactures  are  to  be  introduced,  on  a  large  scale  ; 
the  coarser,  where  it  has  not  been  done,  without  delay  ; 
and  the  finer,  in  rapid  succession,  and  in  proportion  to 
the  acquisition  of  skill,  the  accumulation  of  capital,  and 
the  improvement  of  machinery.  With  these,  will  grow 
up,  or  increase,  the  demand  for  various  institutions  for 
education  ;  the  call  for  every  species  of  intellectual  ser- 
vice ;  the  need  for  every  kind  of  professional  assistance, 
a  demand  rendered  still  more  urgent,  by  a  political  or- 
ganization, of  itself  in  the  highest  degree  favorable  to 
the  creation  and  diffusion  of  energy,  throughout  the 
Commonwealth. 

These  are  so  many  considerations,  which  call  on  the 
rising  generation  of  those  destined  for  the  active  and 
mechanical  arts,  to  improve  their  minds.  It  is  only  in 
this  manner,  that  they  can  effectually  ascertain  the  true 
bent  of  their  own  faculties,  and,  having  ascertained  it, 
employ  themselves,  with  greatest  success,  in  the  way 
for  which  Providence  has  fitted  them.  It  is  only  in 
this  manner,  that  they  can  make  themselves  highly 
respected  in  society,  and  secure  to  themselves  the  lar- 
gest share  of  those  blessings,  which  are  the  common 
objects  of  desire.  In  most  of  the  countries  of  the  older 
world,  the  greatest  part  of  the  prizes  of  life  are  literally 
distributed  by  the  lottery  of  birth.  Men  are  born  to 
wealth,  which  they  cannot  alienate ;  to  power,  from 
which  they  cannot,  without  a  convulsion  of  the  body 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  95 

politic,  be  removed ;  or  to  poverty  and  depression,  from 
which,  generally  speaking,  they  cannot  emerge.  Here, 
it  rarely  happens,  that,  even  for  a  single  generation,  an 
independence  can  be  enjoyed,  without  labor  and  dili- 
gence bestowed  on  its  acquisition  and  preservation  ; 
while,  as  a  general  rule,  the  place,  to  which  eacli  indi- 
vidual shall  rise  in  society,  is  precisely  graduated  on  the 
scale  of  capacity  and  exertion, — in  a  word,  of  merit. 
Every  thing,  therefore,  that  shows  the  magnitude  and 
growth  of  the  country,  its  abundance  and  variety  of 
resources,  its  increasing  demand  for  all  the  arts,  both 
of  ornament  and  utility,  is  another  reason,  calling  upon 
the  emulous  young  men,  of  the  working  classes,  to  enter 
into  the  career  of  improvement,  where  there  is  the  full- 
est scope  for  generous  competition,  and  every  talent, 
of  every  kind,  is  sure  to  be  required,  honored,  and  re- 
warded. 

There  is  another  reflection,  which  ought  not  to  be 
omitted.  The  rapid  growth  and  swift  prosperity  of  the 
country  have  their  peculiar  attendant  evils,  in  addition 
to  those  inseparable  from  humanity.  To  resist  the  pro- 
gress of  these  evils,  to  provide,  seasonably  and  effica- 
ciously, the  moral  and  reasonable  remedy  of  those  dis- 
orders of  the  social  system,  to  which  it  may  be  more 
particularly  exposed,  is  a  duty  to  be  performed  by  the 
enlightened  and  virtuous  portion  of  the  mass  of  the  com- 
munity, quite  equal,  in  importance,  to  any  other  duty, 
which  they  are  called  to  discharge.  In  Europe,  it  is 
too  much  the  case,  that  the  virtuous  influences,  which 
operate  on  the  working  classes,  come  down  from  the 
privileged  orders,  while  the  operatives,  as  they  are  call- 
ed, are  abandoned  to  most  of  the  vices  of  the  most  pro- 
lific source  of  vice, — ignorance.  It  is  of  the  utmost 
importance,  in  this  Country,  that  the  active  walks  of 
life  should  be  filled  by  an  enlightened  class  of  men, 
with  a  view  to  the  security  and  order  of  the  communi- 
ty, and  to  protect  it  from  those  evils,  which  have  been 
thought,  in  Europe,  to  be  inseparable  from  the  great 
increase  of  the  laboring  population.  What  is  done,  in 


96  IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

other  countries,  by  gens  d'armes  and  horse-guards, 
must  here  be  done  by  public  sentiment,  or  not  at  all. 
An  enjightened  moral  public  sentiment  must  spread  its 
wings  over  our  dwellings,  and  plant  a  watchman  at  our 
doors.  It  is  perfectly  well  known,  to  all  who  hear  me, 
that,  as  a  class,  the  mechanic  and  manufacturing  popu- 
lation of  Europe  is  regarded  as  grossly  depraved ;  while 
the  agricultural  population,  with  as  little  exception,  is 
set  down  as  incurably  stupid.  This  conviction  was  so 
prevalent,  that  many  of  the  most  patriotic  of  our  citi- 
zens were  opposed  to  the  introduction  of  manufactures 
among  us,  partly  on  the  ground,  that  factories  are,  in 
their  nature,  seminaries  of  vice  and  immorality.  Thus 
far,  this  fear  has  been  most  happily  relieved,  by  experi- 
ence ;  and  it  is  found,  that  those  establishments  are  as 
little  open  to  reproach,  on  the  score  of  morals,  as  any 
other  in  the  community.  Our  mechanic  and  agricul- 
tural population  will,  in  this  part  of  the  country,  support 
the  comparison,  for  general  intelligence  and  morality, 
with  any  in  the  world.  This  state  of  things,  if  it  can 
be  rendered  permanent,  is  a  great  social  triumph,  and 
will  be,  to  America,  a  juster  subject  of  self-gratulation, 
than  any  thing  belonging  merely  to  the  political,  eco- 
nomical, and  physical,  growth  of  the  community.  It 
deserves  the  consideration  of  every  patriot,  that  the 
surest  way  of  perpetuating  and  diffusing  this  most 
enviable  state  of  things, — this  most  desirable  of  all  the 
advantages,  which  we  can  have  over  the  Old  World, — 
is,  to  multiply  the  means  of  improving  the  mind,  and 
put  them  within  the  reach  of  all  classes.  An  intelligent 
class  can  scarce  ever  be,  as  a  class,  vicious ;  never,  as 
a  ckass,  indolent.  The  excited  mental  activity  operates 
as  a  counterpoise  to  the  stimulus  of  sense  and  appe- 
tite. The  new  world  of  ideas ;  the  new  views  of  the 
relations  of  things ;  the  astonishing  secrets  of  the  phys- 
ical properties  and  mechanical  powers,  disclosed  to  the 
well-informed  mind,  present  attractions,  which,  unless 
the  character  is  deeply  sunk,  are  sufficient  to  counter- 
balance the  taste  for  frivolous  or  corrupt  pleasures ; 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  97 

and  thus,  in  the  end,  a  standard  of  character  is  crea- 
ted in  the  community,  which,  though  it  does  not  inva- 
riably save  each  individual,  protects  the  virtue  of  the 
mass. 

III.  I  am  thus  brought  to  the  last  consideration,  which 
I  shall  mention,  as  an  encouragement  to  the  mechanic 
classes  to  improve  their  minds ;  and  that  is,  the  com- 
paratively higher  rank,  which  our  institutions  assign  to 
them,  in  the  political  system.  One  of  the  great  causes, 
no  doubt,  of  the  enterprise  and  vigor,  which  have  already 
distinguished  our  countrymen,  in  almost  every  pursuit, 
is,  the  absence  of  those  political  distinctions,  which  are 
independent  of  personal  merit  and  popular  choice.  It 
is  the  strongest  motive  that  we  can  suggest,  for  unre- 
mitted  diligence  in  the  acquisition  of  useful  knowledge, 
on  the  part  of  the  laborious  classes,  that  they  have  a 
far  more  responsible  duty  to  discharge  to  society,  than 
ever  devolved  on  the  same  class,  in  any  other  commu- 
nity. Every  book  of  travels,  not  less  than  every  oppor- 
tunity of  personal  observation,  informs  us  of  the  deplor- 
able ignorance  of  a  great  part  of  those,  by  whom  the 
work  of  the  community  is  done,  in  foreign  countries. 
In  some  parts  of  England,  this  class  is  more  enlightened, 
than  it  is  on  the  continent  of  Europe ;  and  in  that 
Country,  great  efforts  are  making,  at  the  present  time, — 
and  particularly  through  the  instrumentality  of  institu- 
tions like  that,  under  the  auspices  of  which  we  are 
now  assembled, — to  extend  the  means  of  education  to 
those  who  have  hitherto  been  deprived  of  them.  But 
it  is  a  party  question  among  them,  not  how  far  it  is  right 
and  proper,  but  how  far  it  is  prudent  and  safe,  to  en- 
lighten the  people  ;  and,  while  the  liberal  party  in  Eng- 
land are  urgent  for  the  diffusion  of  useful  knowledge, 
to  prevent  the  people  from  breaking  out  into  violence 
and  revolution,  the  opposite  party  exclaim  against  a 
further  diffusion  of  knowledge,  as  tending  to  make  the 
people  discontented  with  their  condition.  I  remember 
to  have  seen,  not  long  since,  a  charge  to  the  grand  jury, 
by  an  English  judge,  in  which  the  practice  of  boxing  is 
9  E.  E. 


98  IMPORTANCE   OF   SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

commended,  and  the  fear  is  expressed,  that  popular  ed- 
ucation has  been  pushed  too  far  ! 

The  man  who  should,  in  this  Country,  express  the 
opinion,  that  the  education  of  the  people  foreboded  ill 
to  the  state,  would  merely  be  regarded  as  wanting  com- 
mon judgement  and  sagacity.  We  are  not  only  accus- 
tomed to  that  state  of  things,  but -we  regard  it  as  our 
great  blessing  and  privilege,  to  which  the  higher  orders 
in  Europe  look  forward,  as  the  fearful  result  of  bloody 
revolutions.  The  representative  system,  and  our  stat- 
ute of  distributions,  are  regarded  by  us,  not  as  horrors 
consequent  upon  a  convulsion  of  society,  but  as  the 
natural  condition  of  the  body  politic. 

This  condition  of  the  country,  however,  is  not  to  be 
regarded  merely  as  a  topic  of  lofty  political  declamation. 
Its  best  effects  are,  and  must  be,  those  which  are  not 
immediately  of  a  political  character.  If  the  mass  of 
the  people  behold  no  privileged  class,  placed  invidious- 
ly above  them ;  if  they  choose  those  who  make  and 
administer  the  laws  ;  if  the  extent  of  public  expenditure 
is  determined  by  those  who  bear  its  burden, — this, 
surely,  is  well ;  but,  if  the  mass  of  the  people,  here, 
were  what  it  is  in  most  parts  of  Europe,  it  may  be 
doubted,  whether  such  a  system  would  not  be  too  good 
for  them.  Who  would  like  to  trust  his  life  and  fortune 
to  a  Spanish  jury,  or  a  Neapolitan  jury?  Under  the 
reign  of  Napoleon,  an  attempt  was  made  to  introduce 
the  trial  by  jury,  not  only  into  France,  but  into  some 
of  the  dependent  kingdoms.  It  has  been  stated,  that, 
when  the  peasants  of  some  of  these  countries  were 
empannelled  in  the  jury-box,  they  not  only  considered 
it  an  excessively  onerous  and  irksome  duty,  but  showed 
themselves  utterly  incapable  of  discharging  it,  with 
sufficient  discretion  and  intelligence. 

The  great  use,  then,  to  be  made  of  popular  rights, 
should  be,  popular  improvement.  Let  the  young  man, 
who  is  to  gain  his  living  by  his  labor  and  skill,  remem- 
ber that  he  is  a  citizen  of  a  free  state  ;  that  on  him 
and  his  contemporaries  it  greatly  depends,  whether  he 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  99 

will  be  prosperous,  himself,  in  his  social  condition, 
and  whether  a  precious  inheritance  of  social  blessings 
shall  descend,  unimpaired,  to  those  who  come  after 
him ;  that  there  is  no  important  difference  in  the  situ- 
ation of  individuals,  but  that  which  they  themselves 
cause  or  permit  to  exist ;  that,  if  something  of  the  ine- 
quality, in  the  goods  of  fortune,  which  is  inseparable 
from  human  things,  exist  in  this  Country,  it  ought  to 
be  viewed  only  as  another  excitement  to  that  industry, 
by  which,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  wealth  is  acquired, 
and  still  more,  to  that  cultivation  of  the  mind,  which, 
next  to  the  moral  character,  makes  the  great  difference 
between  man  and  man.  The  means  of  education  are 
already  ample  and  accessible ;  and  it  is  for  the  majori- 
ty of  the  community,  by  a  tax,  of  which  the  smallest 
proportion  falls  on  themselves,  to  increase  these  means 
to  any  desirable  extent. 

These  remarks  apply,  with  equal  force,  to  almost 
every  individual.  There  are  some  considerations,  which 
address  themselves,  more  exclusively,  to  the  ardent 
mind,  emulous  of  the  praise  of  excelling.  Such  cannot 
realize,  too  soon,  that  we  live  in  an  age  of  improve- 
ment ;  an  age,  in  which  investigation  is  active  and  suc- 
cessful, in  every  quarter ;  and  in  which,  what  has  been 
effected,  however  wonderful,  is  but  the  brilliant  prom- 
ise of  what  may  further  be  done.  The  important  dis- 
coveries, which  have  been  made  in  almost  every  de- 
partment of  human  occupation,  speculative  and  practi- 
cal, within  less  than  a  century,  are  almost  infinite. 

To  speak  only  of  those  which  minister  most  directly 
to  the  convenience  of  man, — what  changes  have  not 
been  already  wrought,  in  the  condition  of  society ; 
what  addition  has  not  been  made,  to  the  wealth  of  na- 
tions and  the  means  of  private  comfort,  by  the  inven- 
tions, discoveries,  and  improvements,  of  the  last  hun- 
dred years?  High  in  importance,  among  these,  are 
the  increased  facilities  for  transportation.  By  the  use 
of  the  locomotive  steam-engine,  upon  rail-roads,  pas- 
sengers and  merchandise  may  now  be  conveyed,  from 


100          IMPORTANCE  OF   SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

place  to  place,  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  and  even  twenty 
miles  an  hour.  Although  not  to  be  compared  with 
this,  the  plan  of  M'Adam  is  eminently  useful,  consist- 
ing, as  it  does,  of  a  method,  by  which  a  surface,  as 
hard  as  a  rock,  can  be  carried  along,  over  any  founda- 
tion, at  an  expense  not  much  greater,  and,  under  some 
circumstances,  not  at  all  greater,  than  that  of  turnpike 
roads  on  the  old  construction.  By  the  chemical  pro- 
cess of  bleaching,  what  was  formerly  done  by  exposure 
to  the  sun  and  air,  for  weeks,  is  now  done,  under  cover, 
in  a  few  days.  By  the  machinery  for  separating  the 
seed  from  the  staple  of  cotton,  the  value  of  every  acre 
of  land,  devoted  to  the  culture  of  this  most  important 
product,  has,  to  say  the  least,  been  doubled.  By  the 
machinery  for  carding,  spinning,  and  weaving,  cotton, 
the  price  of  a  yard  of  durable  cotton  cloth  has  been 
reduced,  from  half  a  dollar  to  a  few  cents.  Lithography 
and  stereotype  printing  are  destined  to  have  a  very 
important  influence,  in  enlarging  the  sphere  of  the  op- 
erations of  the  press.  By  the  invention  of  gas  lights, 
an  inflammable  air,  yielding  the  strongest  and  purest 
flame,  is  extracted  in  a  laboratory,  and  conducted,  un- 
der ground,  all  over  a  city,  and  brought  up  wherever  it 
is  required,  in  the  street,  in  the  shop,  in  the  dwelling- 
house.  The  safety-lamp  enables  the  miner  to  walk, 
unharmed,  through  an  atmosphere  of  explosive  gas. 
And,  last  and  chiefest,  the  application  of  steam,  as  a 
general  moving  power,  is  rapidly  extending  its  effect, 
from  one  branch  of  industry  to  another,  from  one 
interest  to  another,  of  the  community,  and  bids  fair, 
within  no  distant  period,  to  produce  the  most  essential 
changes  in  the  social  condition  of  the  world.  All  these 
beautiful,  surprising,  and  most  useful,  discoveries  and 
improvements  have  been  made,  within  less  than  a  cen- 
tury ;  most  of  them,  within  less  than  half  that  time. 

What  must  be  the  effect  of  this  wonderful  multipli 
cation  of  ingenious  and  useful  discoveries  and  improve 
ments  ?     Undoubtedly  this,  that,  in  addition  to  all  their 
immediate  beneficial  consequences,  they  will  lead  to 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  101 

further  discoveries,  and  still  greater  improvements.  Of 
that  vast  system,  which  we  call  Nature,  and  of  which, 
none  but  its  Author  can  comprehend  the  whole,  the 
laws  and  the  properties,  that  have  as  yet* been  explored, 
unquestionably  form  but  a  portion,  connected  with  a 
grand  succession  of  parts  yet  undiscovered,  by  an  in- 
dissoluble although  an  unseen  chain.  Eacli  new  truth 
that  is  found  out,  besides  its  own  significance  and  value, 
is  a  step  to  the  knowledge  of  further  truth,  leading  off 
the  inquisitive  mind,  on  a  new  track,  and  upon  some 
higher  path ;  in  the  pursuit  of  which,  new  discoveries 
are  made,  and  the  old  are  brought  into  new  and  unex- 
pected connexions. 

The  history  of  human  science  is  a  collection  of  facts, 
which,  while  it  proves  the  connexion  with  each  other 
of  truths  and  arts,  at  first  view  remote  and  disconnected, 
encourages  us  to  scrutinize  every  department  of  knowl- 
edge, however  trite  and  familiar  it  may  seem,  with  a 
view  to  discovering  its  relation  with  the  laws  and  prop- 
erties of  Nature,  comprehended  within  it,  but  not  yet 
disclosed.  The  individual,  who  first  noticed  the  attrac- 
tive power  of  magnetic  substances,  was  gratified,  no 
doubt,  with  observing  a  singular  and  inexplicable  prop- 
erty of  matter,  which  he  may  have  applied  to  some  ex- 
periments, rather  curious  than  useful.  The  man,  who 
afterwards  observed  the  tendency  of  a  magnetized  body 
toward  the  poles  of  the  earth,  unfolded  a  far  more  cu- 
rious and  important  law  of  Nature,  but  one  which,  rest- 
ing there,  was  productive  of  no  practical  consequences. 
Then  came  the  sagacious  individual,  who,  attaching  the 
artificial  magnet  to  a  traversing  card,  contrived  the 
means  of  steering  a  vessel,  in  the  darkest  night,  across 
the  high  seas.  To  him,  we  cannot  suppose  that  the 
important  consequences  of  his  discovery  were  wholly 
unperceived ;  but  since,  in  point  of  history,  near  two 
centuries  passed  away,  before  they  were  extensively  de- 
veloped, we  can  hardly  suppose,  that  the  inventor  of  the 
mariner's  compass  caught  more  than  a  glimpse  of  the 
nature  of  his  invention.  The  Chinese  are  supposed  to 
9* 


102          IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

have  been  acquainted  with  it,  as  also  with  the  art  of 
printing,  from  time  immemorial,  without  having  derived, 
from  either,  any  of  those  results,  which  have  changed 
the  aspect  of  modern  Europe.  Then  came  Columbus. 
Guided  by  the  faithful  pilot,  which  watches  when  the 
eye  of  man  droops, — the  patient  little  steersman,  which 
darkness  does  not  blind,  nor  the  storm  drive  from  its 
post, — Columbus  discovered  a  New  World  ; — a  glorious 
discovery,  as  he,  no  doubt,  felt  it  to  be,  both  in  antici- 
pation and  achievement.  But  it  does  not  appear,  that 
even  Columbus  had  indulged  a  vision  more  brilliant,  than 
that  of  a  princely  inheritance  for  his  own  family,  and  a 
rich  colony  for  Spain  ; — a  vision,  fulfilled  in  his  own 
poverty  and  chains,  and  in  the  corruption  and  degen- 
eracy of  the  Spanish  monarchy.  And  yet,  from  his  dis- 
covery of  America,  so  disastrous  to  himself  and  country, 
have  sprung,  directly  or  indirectly,  most  of  the  great 
changes  of  the  political,  commercial,  and  social,  condi- 
tion of  man,  in  modern  times.  It  is  curious,  also,  to 
reflect,  that,  as  the  Chinese,  from  time  immemorial,  (as 
has  just  been  remarked,)  have  possessed  the  mariner's 
compass,  and  the  art  of  printing,  to  little  purpose ;  so 
they,  or  some  people  in  their  neighborhood,  on  the  north- 
eastern coast  of  Asia,  either  with  the  aid  of  the  compass, 
or  merely  by  coasting  from  island  to  island,  appear  to 
have  made  the  discovery  of  America,  on  the  western 
side  of  the  continent,  ages  before  it  was  discovered 
by  Columbus,  on  the  eastern  side,  without,  however, 
deriving  from  this  discovery,  any  beneficial  conse- 
quences, to  the  Old  World  or  the  New.  It  was  left 
for  the  spirit  of  civilization,  awakened  in  western  Eu- 
rope, toward  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  to 
develope  and  put  in  action  the  great  elements  of  pow- 
er and  light,  latent  in  this  discovery. 

Its  first  effect  was  the  establishment  of  the  colonial 
system,  which,  with  the  revolution  in  the  financial  state 
of  Europe,  occasioned  by  the  opening  of  the  American 
mines,  gave,  eventually,  a  new  aspect  to  both  hemi- 
spheres. W  hat  the  sum  total  of  all  these  consequences 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  Pt  KSL  IT.  103 

has  been,  may  be  partly  judged,  from  the  fact,  that  the 
colonization  of  the  United  States  is  but  one  of  them. 
The  further  extension  of  adventures  of  discovery  was 
facilitated  by  new  scientific  inventions  and  improve- 
ments. The  telescope  was  contrived,  and,  from  the 
movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  more  accurately  ob- 
served, tables  of  longitude  were  constructed,  which  gave 
new  confidence  to  the  navigator.  He  now  visits  new 
shores,  lying  in  different  climates,  whose  productions, 
transplanted  to  other  regions,  or  introduced  into  the 
commerce  of  the  world,  give  new  springs  to  industry, 
open  new  sources  of  wealth,  and  lead  to  the  cultivation 
of  new  arts.  It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  particulars  ; 
but  who  can  estimate  the  full  effect,  on  social  affairs, 
of  such  products  as  sugar,  coffee,  tea,  rice,  tobacco,  the 
potato,  cotton,  indigo,  the  spices,  the  dye-woods,  the 
mineral  and  fossil  substances,  newly  made  to  enter  into 
general  use  and  consumption  ;  the  discovery,  transpor- 
tation, and  preparation  of  which,  are  so  many  unforeseen 
effects  of  former  discoveries?  Each  of  these,  directly 
or  indirectly,  furnished  new  materials  for  the  mind  to  act 
upon ;  new  excitement  to  its  energies.  Navigation, 
already  extended,  receives  new  facilities,  from  the  use 
of  the  chronometer.  The  growing  wealth  of  the  com- 
munity increases  the  demand  for  all  the  fabrics  of  in- 
dustry ;  the  wonderful  machinery  for  carding,  spinning, 
and  weaving,  is  contrived ;  water  and  vapor  are  made 
to  do  the  work  of  human  hands,  and  almost  of  human 
intellect ;  as  the  cost  of  the  fabric  decreases,  the  demand 
for  it  multiplies,  geometrically,  and  furnishes  an  -ever- 
growing reward  for  the  exertions  of  the  ever-active  spirit 
of  improvement.  Thus,  a  mechanical  invention  may 
lead  to  a  geographical  discovery ;  a  physical  cause,  to 
a  political  or  an  intellectual  effect.  A  discovery  results 
in  an  art ;  an  art  produces  a  comfort ;  a  comfort,  made 
cheaply  accessible,  adds  family  on  family  to  the  pop- 
ulation ;  and  a  family  is  a  new  creation  of  thinking, 
reasoning,  inventing,  and  discovering,  beings.  Thus, 
instead  of  arriving  at  the  end,  we  are  at  the  beginning 


104          IMPORTANCE  OF   SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

of  the  series,  and  ready  to  start,  with  recruited  num- 
bers, on  the  great  and  beneficent  career  of  useful  know- 
ledge. 

What,  then,  are  these  great  and  beneficial  discover- 
ies, in  their  origin  ?  What  is  the  process  which  has  led 
to  them  ?  They  are  the  work  of  rational  man,  operat- 
ing upon  the  materials  existing  in  Nature,  and  observ- 
ing the  laws  and  properties  of  the  physical  world.  The 
Creator  of  the  universe  has  furnished  us  the  material ; 
it  is  all  around  us,  above  us,  and  beneath  us :  in  the 
ground  under  our  feet ;  the  air  we  breathe  ;  the  waters 
of  the  ocean,  and  of  the  fountains  of  the  earth  ;  in  the 
various  subjects  of  the  kingdoms  of  Nature.  We  can- 
not open  our  eyes,  nor  stretch  out  our  hands,  nor  take 
a  step,  but  we  see,  and  handle,  and  tread  upon,  the 
things,  from  which  the  most  wonderful  and  useful  dis- 
coveries and  inventions  have  been  deduced.  What  is 
gunpowder,  which  has  changed  the  character  of  mod- 
ern warfare  ?  It  is  the  mechanical  mixture  of  some  of 
the  most  common  and  least  costly  substances.  What 
is  the  art  of  printing  ?  A  contrivance  less  curious,  as  a 
piece  of  mechanism,  than  a  musical  box.  What  is  the 
steam-engine?  An  apparatus  for  applying  the  vapor 
of  boiling  water.  What  is  vaccination  ?  A  trifling  ail, 
communicated  by  a  scratch  of  the  lancet,  and  capable 
of  protecting  human  life  against  one  of  the  most  dread- 
ful maladies  to  which  it  is  exposed. 

And  are  the  properties  of  matter  all  discovered  ?  its 
laws  all  found  out  ?  the  uses  to  which  they  may  be  ap- 
plied all  detected  ?  I  cannot  believe  it.  We  cannot 
doubt,  that  truths,  now  unknown,  are  in  reserve,  to  re- 
ward the  patience  and  the  labors  of  future  lovers  of  truth, 
which  will  go  as  far  beyond  the  brilliant  discoveries  of 
the  last  generation,  as  these  do  beyond  all  that  was 
known  to  the  ancient  world.  The  pages  are  infinite, 
in  that  great  Volume,  which  was  written  by  the  Hand 
Divine,  and  they  are  to  be  gradually  turned,  perused, 
and  announced,  to  benefited  and  grateful  generations, 
by  genius  and  patience  ;  especially  by  patience  ;  by  un- 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  105 

tiring,  enthusiastic,  self-devoting  patience.  The  prog- 
ress, which  has  been  made  in  art  and  science,  is  indeed 
vast.  We  are  ready  to  think  a  pause  must  follow  ;  that 
the  goal  must  be  at  hand.  But  there  is  no  goal ;  and 
there  can  be  no  pause  ;  for  art  and  science  are,  in  them- 
selves, progressive  and  infinite.  They  are  moving  pow- 
ers, animated  principles ;  they  are  instinct  with  life ; 
they  are  themselves  the  intellectual  life  of  man.  Noth- 
ing can  arrest  them,  which  does  not  plunge  the  entire 
order  of  society  into  barbarism.  There  is  no  end  to 
truth,  no  bound  to  its  discovery  and  application  ;  and  a 
man  might  as  well  think  to  build  a  tower,  from  the  top 
of  which  he  could  grasp  Sirius  in  his  hand,  as  prescribe 
a  limit  to  discovery  and  invention. 

Never  do  we  more  evince  our  arrogant  ignorance,  than 
when  we  boast  our  knowledge.  True  Science  is  modest ; 
for  her  keen,  sagacious  eye  discerns,  that  there  are  deep, 
undeveloped  mysteries,  where  the  vain  sciolist  sees  all 
plain.  We  call  this  an  age  of  improvement,  as  it  is.  But 
the  Italians,  in  the  age  of  Leo  X.,  and  with  great  reason, 
said  the  same  of  their  age  ;  the  Romans,  in  the  time  of 
Cicero,  the  same  of  theirs;  the  Greeks,  in  the  time 
of  Pericles,  the  same  of  theirs ;  and  the  Assyrians 
and  Egyptians,  in  the  flourishing  periods  of  their  an- 
cient monarchies,  no  doubt,  the  same  of  theirs.  In  pas- 
sing from  one  of  these  periods  to  another,  prodigious 
strides  are  often  made ;  and  the  vanity  of  the  present 
age  is  apt  to  flatter  itself,  that  it  has  climbed  to  the 
very  summit  of  invention  and  skill.  A  wiser  posterity 
at  length  finds  out,  that  the  discovery  of  one  truth,  the 
investigation  of  one  law  of  Nature,  the  contrivance  of 
one  machine,  the  perfection  of  one  art,  instead  of  nar- 
rowing, has  widened  the  field  of  knowledge  still  to  be 
acquired,  and  given  to  those  who  came  after,  an  ampler 
space,  more  numerous  data,  better  instruments,  a  higher 
point  of  observation,  and  the  encouragement  of  living 
and  acting  in  the  presence  of  a  more  intelligent  age. 
It  is  not  a  century,  since  the  number  of  fixed  stars  was 
estimated  at  about  three  thousand.  Newton  had  count- 


106          IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

ed  no  more.  When  Dr.  Herschel  had  completed  his 
great  telescope,  and  turned  it  to  the  heavens,  he  calcu- 
lated, that  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  stars  passed 
through  its  field,  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour  ! . 

It  may  not  irreverently  be  conjectured  to  be  the  har- 
monious plan  of  the  universe,  that  its  two  grand  ele- 
ments of  mind  and  matter  should  be  accurately  adjusted 
to  each  other ;  that  there  should  be  full  occupation,  in 
the  physical  world,  in  its  laws  and  properties,  and  in 
the  moral  and  social  relations  connected  with  it,  for  the 
contemplative  and  active  powers  of  every  created  intel- 
lect. The  imperfection  of  human  institutions  has,  as 
far  as  man  is  concerned,  disturbed  the  pure  harmony 
of  this  great  system.  On  the  one  hand,  much  truth, 
discoverable  even  at  the  present  stage  of  human  im- 
provement, as  we  have  every  reason  to  think,  remains 
undiscovered.  On  the  other  hand,  thousands  and  mil- 
lions of  rational  minds,  for  want  of  education,  oppor- 
tunity, and  encouragement,  have  remained  dormant  and 
inactive,  though  surrounded,  on  every  side,  by  those 
qualities  of  things,  whose  action  and  combination,  no 
doubt,  still  conceal  the  sublimest  and  most  beneficial 
mysteries. 

But  a  portion  of  the  intellect,  which  has  been  placed 
on  this  goodly  theatre,  is  wisely,  intently,  and  success- 
fully active  ;  ripening,  even  on  earth,  into  no  mean  sim- 
ilitude of  higher  natures.  From  time  to  time,  a  chosen 
hand,  sometimes  directed  by  what  is  called  chance,  but 
more  commonly  guided  by  reflection,  experiment,  and 
research,  touches,  as  it  were,  a  spring,  until  then  unper- 
ceived  ;  and,  through  what  seemed  a  blank  and  impen- 
etrable wall,  the  barrier  to  all  farther  progress,  a  door 
is  thrown  open,  into  some  before  unexplored  hall,  in 
the  sacred  temple  of  truth.  The  multitude  rushes  in, 
and  wonders  that  the  portals  could  have  remained 
concealed,  so  long.  When  a  brilliant  discovery  or  in- 
vention is  proclaimed,  men  are  astonished,  to  think  how 
long  they  have  lived  on  its  confines,  without  penetrat- 
ing its  nature. 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  107 

It  is  now  a  hundred  years,  since  it  was  found  out 
that  the  vapor  of  boiling  water  is,  as  we  now  think  it, 
the  most  powerful  mechanical  agent  within  the  control 
of  man.  And  yet,  even  after  the  contrivance  of  the 
steam-engine,  on  a  most  improved  construction,  and 
although  the  thoughts  of  numerous  ingenious  mecha- 
nicians were  turned  to  the  subject,  and  various  experi- 
ments made,  it  was  left  for  our  fellow-citizen,  Fulton, 
in  a  successful  application  of  this  agent,  as  brilliant  as 
its  first  discovery,  to  produce  another  engine, — the 
steam-boat. — of  incalculable  utility  and  power.  The 
entire  consequences  of  this  discovery  cannot  yet  be  pre- 
dicted :  but  there  is  one  prediction,  relative  to  it,  and 
that  among  the  first  ever  made,  which  has  been  most 
calamitously  fulfilled.  When  the  interests  of  Mr.  Ful- 
ton, under  the  laws  of  New  York,  were  maintained  by 
Mr.  Emmet,  at  the  bar  of  the  legislature  of  that  State, 
at  the  close  of  his  argument,  he  turned  to  his  client,  in 
an  affecting  apostrophe  ;  and,  after  commending  the  dis- 
interestedness with  which  he  devoted  his  time,  talents, 
and  knowledge,  to  enterprises  and  w*orks  of  public  util- 
ity, to  the  injury  of  his  private  fortunes,  he  added : 
"  Let  me  remind  you,  however,  that  you  have  other 
and  closer  ties.  I  know  the  pain  I  am  about  to  give, 
and  I  see  the  tears  I  make  you  shed.  But  by  that  love, 
I  speak, — by  that  love,  which,  like  the  light  of  heaven, 
is  refracted  in- rays  of  different  strength,  upon  your  wife 
and  children,  which,  when  collected  and  combined, 
forms  the  sunshine  of  your  soul ; — by  that  love  I  do  ad- 
jure you,  provide,  in  time,  for  those  dearest  objects  of 
your  care.  Think  not,  I  would  instil  into  your  rnind  a 
mean  or  sordid  feeling ;  but  now,  that  wealth  is  passing 
through  your  hands,  let  me  entreat  you  to  hoard  it, 
while  you  have  it."  And  then,  after  sketching  the 
dangers  which  threatened  his  interests,  as  guarantied  by 
the  laws  of  the  State,  Mr.  Emmet  prophetically  added : 
"  Yes,  my  friend,  my  heart  bleeds,  while  I  utter  it,  but 
I  have  fearful  forebodings,  that  you  may  hereafter  find, 
in  public  faith,  a  broken  staff"  for  your  support,  and  re- 


108          IMPORTANCE  OF   SCIENTIFIC   KNOWLEDGE, 

ceive,  from  public  gratitude,  a  broken  heart  for  your 
reward."  From  the  time  this  prediction  was  uttered, 
the  stupendous  consequences  of  the  invention  of  Fulton 
have  been,  every  day,  more  and  more  amply  developed: 
It  has  brought  into  convenient  neighborhood  with  each 
other,  some  of  the  remotest  settlements  on  the  waters 
of  the  United  States.  It  has  made  the  Mississippi  nav- 
igable up  stream  as  well  as  down,  (which  it  hardly  was 
before,)  incredibly  accelerating,  in  time  of  peace,  the 
settlement  of  its  mighty  valley,  and  making  it,  hence- 
forth, safe  from  attack,  in  time  of  war.  It  has  added, 
beyond  all  estimate,  to  the  value  of  the  time,  and  to  the 
amount  of  the  capital,  of  a  large  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  country ;  and,  without  impairing  the  im- 
portance of  these  benefits  to  America,  has  as  signally 
imparted  them,  or  similar  benefits,  to  Europe,  and  the 
rest  of  the  civilized  world.  While  these  grand  devel- 
opements  of  the  character  of  Fulton's  invention  have 
been  taking  place,  the  life,  the  estate,  the  family,  of  the 
great  inventor,  have,  one  after  another,  been  sacrificed 
and  crushed.  Within  a  few  months  after  the  eloquent 
appeal,  just  recited,  was  made,  Fulton  actually  died  of 
disease  contracted  by  exposure  in  the  gratuitous  ser- 
vice of  the  public.  In  a  few  years,  a  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  scattered  the  re- 
mains of  his  property  to  the  winds  ;  and  twice  or  thrice, 
since  that  period,  has  an  appeal  been  made  to  Congress, 
on  behalf  of  his  orphan  children,  for  such  a  provision 
as  would  spare  them  from  the  alternative  of  charity  or 
starvation, — and  it  has  been  made  in  vain.* 

But  it  is  time  to  return  to  the  facts,  with  which  I  was 
illustrating  the  wonderful  advances  made,  from  time  to 
time,  in  the  cultivation  or  application  of  the  most  fa- 
miliar arts.  As  far  back  as  human  history  runs,  the 
use  of  the  distaff  and  loom  is  known  ;  but  it  is  not  yet 

*  At  the  time  this  passage  was  pronounced,  before  the  Columbian 
Institute,  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  an  application  in 
favor  of  the  family  of  Fulton  was  before  Congress,  on  the  report  of  a 
Committee,  of  which  the  Author  was  a  member. 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  109 

one  hundred  years  since  Sir  Richard  Arkwright*  was 
born, — the  poor  journeyman  barber,  the  youngest  of 
thirteen  children,  who  began  and  perfected  the  most 
important  improvements  in  the  machinery  for  manu- 
facturing cotton,  which  (as  has  been  stated  on  the  most 
respectable  English  authority)  "bore  the  English  na- 
tion triumphantly  through  the  wars  of  the  French  revo- 
lution," and  are  unquestionably  of  greater  value  to  her 
than  all  her  colonies,  from  Hindostan  to  Labrador. 

The  ocean  which  lies  between  America  and  Europe 
may  be  crossed  in  a  fortnight ;  but,  after  the  fleets  of 
Tyre,  of  Carthage,  of  Rome,  and  of  the  maritime  pow- 
ers of  the  middle  ages,  had  been,  for  thousands  of 
years,  accustomed  to  navigate  the  sea,  it  was  reserved 
for  a  poor  Genoese  pilot,  begging  his  way  from  court 
to  court,  and  by  the  simple  process  of  sailing  on  one 
course  as  long  as  he  had  water  to  float  his  ship,  to  dis- 
cover a  New  World. 

Our  geographical  knowledge  shows  us,  that  we  do 
not,  like  so  many  generations  of  our  predecessors,  live 
within  the  reach  of  other  undiscovered  continents  ;  but 
we  do  unquestionably  live,  act,  and  speculate,  within 
the  reach  of  properties  and  powers  of  things,  whose 
discovery  and  application  (when  they  take  place)  will 
effect  changes  in  society,  as  great  as  those  produced  by 
the  magnet,  the  discovery  of  America,  the  art  of  print- 
ing, or  the  steam-boat.  We  do  doubtless  live  within 
the  reach  of  undiscovered  worlds  of  science,  art,  and 
improvement.  No  royal  permission  is  requisite  to 
launch  forth  on  the  broad  sea  of  discovery  that  sur- 
rounds us, — most  full  of  novelty  where  most  explored  ; 
and  it  may  yet  be  reserved,  for  the  modest  and  secluded 
lover  of  truth  and  votary  of  science,  in  the  solitude  of 
his  humble  researches,  or  the  intelligent  mechanic,  in 
the  discharge  of  his  daily  labors,  to  lay  open  such  laws 
of  matter,  as  will  affect  the  condition  of  the  civilized 
world. 

This,  then,  is  the  encouragement  we  have,  to  engage 
*  See  note  on  page  77. 
10  E.  E. 


110          IMPORTANCE  OF  SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE, 

in  any  well-conceived  enterprise  for  the  diffusion  of 
useful  knowledge  and  the  extension  of  general  improve- 
ment. Wherever  there  is  a  human  mind,  possessed  of 
the  common  faculties,  and  placed  in  a  body  organized 
with  the  common  senses,  there  is  an  active,  intelligent 
being,  competent,  with  proper  cultivation,  to  the  dis- 
covery of  the  highest  truths,  in  the  natural,  the  social, 
and  the  political,  world.  It  is  susceptible  of  demonstra- 
tion, if  demonstration  were  necessary,  that  the  number 
of  useful  and  distinguished  men,  which  are  to  benefit 
and  adorn  society  around  us,  will  be  exactly  propor- 
tioned, upon  the  whole,  to  the  means  and  encourage- 
ments to  improvement,  existing  in  the  community ;  and 
every  thing,  which'  multiplies  these  means  and  encour- 
agements, tends,  in  the  same  proportion,  to  the  multi- 
plication of  inventions  and  discoveries,  useful  and  hon- 
orable to  man.  The  mind,  although  it  does  not  stand 
in  need  of  high  culture,  for  the  attainment  of  great  ex- 
cellence, does  yet  stand  in  need  of  some  culture,  and 
cannot  thrive  and  act  without  it.  When  it  is  once  awak- 
ened, and  inspired  with  a  consciousness  of  its  own  pow- 
ers, and  nourished  into  vigor  by  the  intercourse  of  kin- 
dred minds,  either  through  books  or  living  converse,  it 
does  not  disdain,  but  it  needs  not,  further  extraneous  aid. 
It  ceases  to  be  a  pupil ;  it  sets  up  for  itself ;  it  becomes 
a  master  of  truth,  and  goes  fearlessly  onward,  sounding 
its  way,  through  the  darkest  regions  of  investigation. 
But  it  is  almost  indispensable,  that,  in  some  way  or 
other,  the  elements  of  truth  should  be  imparted  from 
kindred  minds ;  and,  if  these  are  wholly  withheld,  the 
intellect,  which,  if  properly  cultivated,  might  have  soar- 
ed with  Newton  to  the  boundaries  of  the  comet's  orbit, 
is  chained  down  to  the  wants  and  imperfections  of  mere 
physical  life,  unconscious  of  its  own  capacities,  and  un- 
able to  fulfil  its  higher  destiny. 

Contemplate,  at  this  season  of  the  year,*  one  of  the 
magnificent  oak  trees  of  the  forest,  covered  with  thou- 
sands and  thousands  of  acorns.     There  is  not  one  of 
*  The  month  of  November 


AND  ENCOURAGEMENTS  TO  ITS  PURSUIT.  Ill 

those  acorns,  that  does  not  carry  within  itself  the  germ 
of  a  perfect  oak,  as  lofty  and  as  wide-spreading  as  the 
parent  stock  ;  which  does  not  enfold  the  rudiments  of  a 
tree,  that  would  strike  its  roots  in  the  soil,  and  lift  its 
branches  toward  the  heavens,  and  brave  the  storms  of 
a  hundred  Winters.  It  needs,  for  this,  but  a  handful 
of  soil,  to  receive  the  acorn  as  it  falls,  a  little  moisture 
to  nourish  it,  and  protection  from  violence  till  the  root 
is  struck.  It  needs  but  these  ;  and  these  it  does  need, 
and  these  it  must  have  ;  and  for  want  of  them,  trifling 
as  they  seem,  there  is  not  one  out  of  a  thousand,  of 
those  innumerable  acorns,  which  is  destined  to  become 
a  tree. 

Look  abroad,  through  the  cities,  the  towns,  the  vil- 
lages, of  our  beloved  Country,,  and  think  of  what  mate- 
rials their  population,  in  many  parts  already  dense,  and 
every  where  rapidly  growing,  is,  for  the  most  part,  made 
up.  It  is  not  made  up  of  lifeless  enginery,  of  animated 
machines,  of  brute  beasts,  trained  to  subdue  the  earth : 
but  of  rational,  intellectual  beings.  There  is  not  a 
mind,  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  in  our  community, 
that  is  not  capable  of  making  large  progress  in  useful 
knowledge ;  and  no  one  can  presume  to  tell,  or  limit, 
the  number  of  those,  who  are  gifted  with  all  the  talent 
required  for  the  noblest  discoveries.  They  have  natu 
rally  all  the  senses  and  all  the  faculties, — I  do  not 
say,  in  as  high  a  degree,  but  who  shall  say  in  no  de- 
gree ? — possessed  by  Newton,  or  Franklin,  or  Fulton. 
It  is  but  a  little,  which  is  wanted,  to  awaken  every  one 
of  these  minds  to  the  conscious  possession  and  the  ac- 
tive exercise  of  its  wonderful  powers.  But  this  little, 
generally  speaking,  is  indispensable.  How  much  more 
wonderful  an  instrument  is  an  eye  than  a  telescope  ! 
Providence  has  furnished  this  eye ;  but  art  must  con- 
tribute the  telescope,  or  the  wonders  of  the  heavens 
remain  unnoticed.  It  is  for  want  of  the  little,  that  hu- 
man means  must  add  to  the  wonderful  capacity  for  im- 
provement born  in  man,  that  by  far  the  greatest  part 
of  the  intellect,  innate  in  our  race,  perishes  undevel- 


112          IMPORTANCE  OF   SCIENTIFIC  KNOWLEDGE. 

oped  and  unknown.  When  an  acorn  falls  upon  an 
unfavorable  spot,  and  decays  there,  we  know  the  extent 
of  the  loss, — it  is  that  of  a  tree,  like  the  one  from 
which  it  fell ;  but  when  the  intellect  of  a  rational  be- 
ing, for  want  of  culture,  is  lost  to  the  great  ends  for 
which  it  was  created,  it  is  a  loss,  which  no  one  can 
measure,  either  for  time  or  for  eternity. 


THE  WORKlNGMEN's  PARTY.  113 


LECTURE  ON  THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY  * 

MAN  is,  by  nature,  an  active  being.  He  is  made  to 
labor.'  His  whole  organization,  mental  and  physical,  is 
that  of  a  hard-working  being.  Of  his  mental  powers, 
we  have  no  conception,  but  as  certain  capacities  of  in- 
tellectual action.  His  corporeal  faculties  arc  contrived 
for  the  same  end,  with  astonishing  variety  of  adaptation. 
Who  can  look  only  at  the  muscles  of  the  hand,  and 
doubt  that  man  was  made  to  work  ?  Who  can  be  con- 
scious of  judgement,  memory,  and  reflection,  and  doubt 
that  man  was  made  to  act  ?  He  requires  rest,  but  it  is 
in  order  to  invigorate  him  for  new  efforts ;  to  recruit 
his  exhausted  powers ;  and,  as  if  to  show  him,  by  the 
very  nature  of  rest,  that  it  is  Means,  not  End :  that 
form  of  rest,  which  is  most  essential  and  most  grateful, 
sleep,  is  attended  with  the  temporary  suspension  of  the 
conscious  and  active  powers, — an  image  of  death.  Na- 
ture is  so  ordered,  as  both  to  require  and  encourage 
man  to  work.  He  is  created  with  wants,  which  can- 
not be  satisfied  without  labor ;  at  the  same  time,  that 
ample  provision  is  made  by  Providence,  to  satisfy  them 
with  labor.  The  plant  springs  up,  and  grows  on  the 
spot,  where  the  seed  was  cast  by  accident.  It  is  fed 
by  the  moisture,  which  saturates  the  earth,  or  is  held 
suspended  in  the  air ;  and  it  brings  with  it  a  sufficient 
covering  to  protect  its  delicate  internal  structure.  It 
toils  not,  neither  doth  it  spin,  for  clothing  or  food.  But 
man  is  so  created,  that,  let  his  wants  be  as  simple  as 
they  will,  he  must  labor  to  supply  them.  If,  as  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  the  case,  in  primitive  ages,  he  lives 
upon  acorns  and  water,  he  must  draw  the  water  from 
the  spring ;  and,  in  many  places,  he  must  dig  a  well  in 
the  soil ;  and  he  must  gather  the  acorns  from  beneath 

*  Delivered  before  the  Charlestown  Lyceum,  October,  1830 
10* 


114  THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY. 

the  oak,  arid  lay  up  a  store  of  them,  for  Winter.  He 
must,  in  most  climates,  contrive  himself  some  kind  of 
clothing,  of  barks  or  skins ;  must  construct  some  rude 
shelter ;  prepare  some  kind  of  bed,  and  keep  up  a  fire. 
In  short,  it  is  well  known,  that  those  tribes  of  our  race, 
which  are  the  least  advanced  in  civilization,  and  whose 
wants  are  the  fewest,  have  to  labor"  the  hardest  for  their 
support ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  equally  true,  that, 
in  the  most  civilized  countries,  by  far  the  greatest  amount 
and  variety  of  work  are  done  ;  so  that  the  improvement, 
which  takes  place  in  the  condition  of  man,  consists,  not 
in  diminishing  the  amount  of  labor  performed,  but  in 
enabling  men  to  work  more,  or  more  efficiently,  in  the 
same  time.  A  horde  of  savages  will  pass  a  week  in  the 
most  laborious  kinds  of  hunting;  following  the  chase, 
day  after  day  ;  their  women,  if  in  company  with  them, 
carrying  their  tents  and  their  infant  children  on  their 
backs ;  and  all  be  worn  down,  by  fatigue  and  famine ; 
and,  in  the  end,  they  will,  perhaps,  kill  a  buffalo.  The 
same  number  of  civilized  men  and  women  would,  prob- 
ably, on  an  average,  have  kept  more  steadily  at  work, 
in  their  various  trades  and  occupations,  but  with  much 
less  exhaustion  ;  and  the  products  of  their  industry  would 
have  been  vastly  greater ;  or,  what  is  the  same  thing, 
much  more  work  would  have  been  done. 

It  is  true,  as  man  rises  in  improvement,  he  would  be 
enabled,  by  his  arts  and  machinery,  to  satisfy  the  pri- 
mary wants  of  life,  with  less  labor ;  and  this  may  be 
thought  to  show,  at  first  glance,  that  man  was  not  in- 
tended to  be  a  working  being ;  because,  in  proportion 
as  he  advances  in  improvement,  less  work  would  be  re- 
quired to  get  a  mere  livelihood.  But  here  we  see  a 
curious  provision  of  Nature.  In  proportion  as  our  bare 
natural  wants  are  satisfied,  artificial  wants,  or  civilized 
wants,  show  themselves.  And,  in  the  very  highest  state 
of  improvement,  it  requires  as  constant  an  exertion  to 
satisfy  the  new  wants,  which  grow  out  of  the  habits  and 
tastes  of  civilized  life,  as  it  requires,  in  savage  life,  to 
satisfy  hunger  and  thirst,  and  keep  from  freezing.  In 


THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY.  115 

other  words,  the  innate  desire  of  improving  our  condi- 
tion keeps  us  all  in  a  state  of  want.  We  cannot  be 
so  well  off  that  we  do  not  feel  obliged  to  work,  either 
to  insure  the  continuance  of  what  we  now  have,  or  to 
increase  it.  The  man,  whose  honest  industry  just  gives 
him  a  competence,  exerts  himself,  that  he  may  have 
something  against  a  rainy  day  ; — and  how  often  do  we 
hear  an  affectionate  father  say,  he  is  determined  to 
spare  no  pains,  to  work  in  season  and  out  of  season,  in 
order  that  his  children  may  enjoy  advantages  denied  to 
himself ! 

In  this  way,  it  is  pretty  plain,  that  Man,  whether 
viewed  in  his  primitive  and  savage  state,  or  in  a  highly 
improved  condition,  is  a  working  being.  It  is  his  des- 
tiny, the  law  of  his  nature,  to  labor.  He  is  made  for 
it,  and  he  cannot  live  without  it ;  and  the  Apostle  Paul 
summed  up  the  matter,  with  equal  correctness  and  point, 
when  he  said,  that  "  if  any  would  not  work,  neither 
should  he  eat." 

It  is  a  good  test  of  principles,  like  these,  to  bring 
them  to  the  standard  of  general  approbation  or  disap- 
probation. There  are,  in  all  countries,  too  many  per- 
sons, who,  from  mistaken  ideas  of  the  nature  of  happi- 
ness, or  other  less  reputable  causes,  pass  their  time  in 
idleness,  or  in  indolent  pleasures.  But  I  believe  no 
state  of  society  ever  existed,  in  which  the  energy  and 
capacity  of  labor  were  not  commended  and  admired,  or 
in  which  a  taste  for  indolent  pleasure  was  commended 
or  admired,  by  the  intelligent  part  of  the  community. 
When  we  read  the  lives  of  distinguished  men,  in  any 
department,  we  find  them  almost  always  celebrated  for 
the  amount  of  labor  they  could  perform.  Demosthenes, 
Julius  Caesar,  Henry  the  Fourth  of  France,  Lord  Ba 
con,  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Franklin,  Washington,.  Napo- 
leon,— different  as  they  were  in  their  intellectual  and 
moral  qualities, — were  all  renowned,  as  hard  workers. 
We  read,  how  many  days  they  could  support  the  fa- 
tigues of  a  march ;  how  early  they  rose,  how  late  they 
watched ;  how  many  hours  they  spent  in  the  field,  in 


^  THE  WORKINGMENS  PARTY. 

the  cabinet,  in  the  court,  in  the  study ;  how  many  sec- 
retaries they  kept  employed ;  in  short,  how  hard  they 
worked.  But  who  ever  heard  of  its  being  said  of  a  man, 
in  commendation,  that  he  could  sleep  fifteen  hours  out 
of  the  twenty-four,  that  he  could  eat  six  meals  a  day, 
and  that  he  was  never  weary  of  his  easy-chair  ? 

It  would  be  curious  to  estimate  by  any  safe  standard, 
the  amount,-  in  value,  of  the  work  of  all  kinds,  perform- 
ed in  a  community.  This,  of  course,  cannot  be  done 
with  any  great  accuracy.  The  pursuits  of  men  are 
so  various,  and  the  different  kinds  of  labor  are  so  dif- 
ferent in  the  value  of  their  products,  that  it  is  scarce- 
ly possible  to  bring  the  aggregate  to  any  scale  of  calcu- 
lation. But  we  may  form  a  kind  of  general  judgement 
of  the  value  of  the  labor  of  a  community,  if  we  look 
about  us.  All  the  improvements,  which  we  behold  on 
the  face  of  the  earth ;  all  the  buildings,  of  every  kind, 
in  town  and  country ;  all  the  vehicles  employed  on  the 
land  and  water ;  the  roads,  the  canals,  the  wharfs,  the 
bridges ;  all  the  property,  of  all  kinds,  which  is  accu- 
mulated throughout  the  world  ;  and  all  that  is  con- 
sumed, from  day  to  day  and  from  hour  to  hour,  to  sup- 
port those  who  live  upon  it, — all  this  is  the  product  of 
labor ;  and  a  proportionate  share  is  the  product  of  the 
labor  of  each  generation.  It  is  plain,  that  this  compre- 
hensive view  is  one,  that  would  admit  of  being  carried 
out  into  an  infinity  of  details,  which  would  furnish  the 
materials  rather  for  a  volume  than  a  lecture.  But,  as  it 
is  the  taste  of  the  present  day  to  bring  every  thing  down 
to  the  standard  of  figures,  I  will  suggest  a  calculation, 
which  will  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  value  of  the  labor, 
performed  in  the  community  in  which  we  live.  Take 
the  population  of  Massachusetts,  for  the  sake  of  round 
numbers,  at  six  hundred  thousand  souls.*  I  presume  it 
will  not  be  thought  extravagant,  to  assume  that  one  in 
six  performs,  every  day,  a  good  day's  work,  or  its  equiv- 
alent. If  we  allow  nothing  for  the  labor  of  five  out  of 
six,  (and  this,  certainly,  will  cover  the  cases  of  those  too 

*  In  1830. 


THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY.  117 

young  and  too  old  to  do  any  work,  or  who  can  do  only 
a  part  of  a  day's  work,)  and  if  we  also  allow  nothing 
for  those  whose  time  is  worth  more  than  that  of  the  day- 
laborer,  we  may  safely  assume  that  the  sixth  person 
performs,  daily,  a  vigorous  efficient  day's  work,  of  body 
or  mind,  by  hand  or  with  tools,  or  partly  with  each, 
and  that  this  day's  work  is  worth  one  dollar.  This  will 
give  us  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  day,  as  the 
value  of  the  work  done  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  much  more ;  for  this  would 
be  very  little  more  than  it  costs  the  population  to  sup- 
port itself,  and  allows  scarce  any  thing  for  accumulation, 
which  is  constantly  taking  place,  to  a  great  extent.  It 
will  however  show,  sufficiently,  the  great  amount  of  the 
labor  done  in  this  State,  to  take  it  as  coming  up,  at 
least,  to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  day. 

It  appears  then,  first,  that  man  is,  by  his  nature,  a 
working  being;  and,  secondly,  that  the  daily  value  of 
his  work,  estimated  merely  in  money,  is  immensely 
great,  in  any  civilized  community. 

I  have  made  these  preliminary  remarks,  as  an  intro- 
duction to  some  observations,  which  I  propose  to  sub- 
mit, in  the  remainder  of  this  lecture,  on  the  subject  of 
"  a  workingmen's  party."  Towards  the  organization 
of  such  a  party,  steps  have  been  taken,  in  various  parts 
of  the  country.  It  is  probable,  that  a  great  diversity 
of  views  exists,  among  those  who  have  occupied  them- 
selves upon  the  subject,  in  different  places.  This  cir- 
cumstance, and  the  novelty  of  the  subject  in  some  of 
its  aspects,  and  its  importance  in  all,  have  led  me  to 
think,  that  we  might  pass  an  hour,  profitably,  in  its 
contemplation. 

I  will  observe,  in  the  first  place,  then,  that  if,  as  I 
have  endeavored  to  show,  man  is,  by  nature,  a  work- 
ing being,  it  would  follow,  that  a  workingmen's  par- 
ty is  founded  in  the  very  principles  of  our  nature. 
Most  parties  may  be  considered  as  artificial,  in  their 
very  essence  ;  many  are  local,  temporary,  and  personal. 
What  will  all  our  political  parties  be,  a  hundred  years 


118  THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY. 

hence  ?  What  are  they  now,  in  nine  tenths  of  the 
habitable  globe  ?  Mere  nonentities.  But  the  working- 
men's  party,  however  organized,  is  one  that  must  sub- 
sist in  every  civilized  country,  to  the  end  of  time.  In 
other  words,  its  first  principles  are  laid  in  our  nature. 

The  next  question,  that  presents  itself,  is,  What  is 
the  general  object  of  a  workingmen's  party  ?  I  do 
not  now  mean,  what  are  the  immediate  steps,  which 
such  a  party  proposes  to  take  ;  but,  what  is  the  main 
object  and  end,  which  it  would  secure.  To  this,  I  sup- 
pose I  may  safely  answer,  that  it  is  not  to  carry  this  or 
that  political  election  ;  not  to  elevate  this  or  that  candi- 
date for  office,  but  to  promote  the  prosperity  and  wel- 
fare of  workingmen  ;  that  is,  to  secure  to  every  man 
disposed  to  work,  the  greatest  freedom,  in  the  choice 
of  his  pursuit,  the  greatest  encouragement  and  aid,  in 
.pursuing  it,  the  greatest  security,  in  enjoying  its  fruits : 
in  other  words,  to  make  work,  in  the  greatest  possi- 
ble degree,  produce  happiness. 

The  next  inquiry  seems  to  be,  Who  belong  to  the 
workingmen's  party?  The  general  answer,  here,  is 
obvious, — All  who  do  the  work,  or  are  actually  willing 
and  desirous  to  do  it,  and  prevented  only  by  absolute 
inability,  such  as  sickness  or  natural  infirmity.  Let  us 
try  the  correctness  of  this  view,  by  seeing  whom  it 
would  exclude  and  whom  it  would  include. 

This  rule,  in  the  first  place,  would  exclude  all  bad 
men  ;  that  is,  those  who  may  work,  indeed,  but  who 
work  for  immoral  and  unlawful  ends.  This  is  a  very 
important  distinction,  and,  if  practically  applied  and 
vigorously  enforced,  it  would  make  the  workingmen's 
party  the  purest  society  that  ever  existed,  since  the 
time  of  the  primitive  Christians.  It  is  greatly  to  be 
feared,  that  scarce  any  of  the  parties,  that  divide  the 
community,  are  sufficiently  jealous,  on  this  point ;  and 
for  the  natural  reason,  that  it  does  not  lie  in  the  very 
nature  of  those  parties.  Thus,  at  the  polls,  the  vote  of 
one  man  is  as  good  as  the  vote  of  another.  The  vote 
of  the  drunkard  counts  one  ;  the  vote  of  the  temperate 


THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY.  119 

man  counts  but  one.  For  this  reason,  the  mere  party 
politician,  if  he  can  secure  the  vote,  is  apt  not  to  be 
very  inquisitive  about  the  temperance  of  the  voter.  He 
may  even  prefer  the  intemperate  to  the  temperate ;  for, 
to  persuade  the  temperate  man  to  vote  with  him,  he 
must  give  him  a  good  reason  ;  the  other  will  do  it  for 
a  good  drink. 

But  the  true  principles  of  the  workingmen's  party 
require,  not  merely  that  a  man  should  work,  but  that 
he  should  work  in  an  honest  way,  and  for  a  lawful  ob- 
ject. The  man,  who  makes  forged  money,  probably 
works  harder  than  the  honest  engraver,  who  prepares 
the  notes,  for  those  authorized  by  law  to  issue  them.  But 
he  would  be  repelled,  with  scorn,  if  he  presented  him- 
self as  a  member  of  the  workingmen's  party.  The 
man,  who  passes  his  life,  and  gains  a  wretched,  preca- 
rious subsistence,  by  midnight  trespasses  on  his  neigh- 
bor's grounds ;  by  stealing  horses  from  the  stall,  and 
wood  from  the  pile ;  by  wrenching  bars  and  bolts,  at 
night,  or  picking  pockets,  in  a  crowd,  probably  works 
harder,  (taking  uncertainty  and  anxiety  into  the  calcu- 
lation, and  adding,  as  the  usual  consequence,  a  term  of 
years  in  the  compulsory  service  of  the  State.)  than  the 
average  of  men  pursuing  honest  industry,  even  of  the 
most  laborious  kind :  but  this  hard  work  would  not  en- 
title him  to  be  regarded  as  a  member  of  the  working- 
men's  party. 

If  it  be  inquired,  who  is  to  be  the  judge,  what  kind 
of  work  is  not  only  no  title,  but  an  absolute  disqualifica- 
tion, for  admission  to  the  workingmen's  party,  on  the 
score  of  dishonesty,  we  answer,  that,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  this  must  be  left  to  the  law  of  the  land.  It 
is  true,  that,  under  cover  and  within  the  pale  of  the  law, 
a  man  may  do  things  morally  dishonest,  and  such  as 
ought  to  shut  him  out  of  the  party.  But  it  is  danger- 
ous to  institute  an  inquisition  into  the  motives  of  indi- 
viduals ;  and  so  long  as  a  man  does  nothing  which  the 
law  forbids,  in  a  country  where  the  people  make  the 
laws,  he  ought,  if  not  otherwise  disqualified,  to  be  ad- 
mitted as  a  member  of  the  party. 


120  THE  WORKINGMEN' s  PARTY. 

The  next  question  regards  idlers.  If  we  exclude 
from  the  workingmen's  party,  all  dishonest  and  im- 
moral workers,  what  are  we  to  say  to  the  case  of  the 
idlers?  In  general  terms,  the  answer  to  this  question 
is  plain  ;  they,  too,  must  be  excluded.  With  what  pre- 
tence of  reason,  can  an  idler  ask  to  be  admitted  into  the 
association  of  workingmen,  unless  he  is  willing  to  qual- 
ify himself,  by  going  to  work ;  and  then,  he  ceases  to 
be  an  idler.  In  fact,  the  man,  who  idles  away  his  time, 
acts  against  the  law  of  his  nature,  as  a  working  being. 
It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  there  are  few  cases, 
where  a  man  is  merely  an  idler.  In  almost  every  case, 
he  must  be  something  worse,  such  as  a  spendthrift,  a 
gamester,  or  an  intemperate  person  ;  a  bad  son,  a  bad 
husband,  and  a  bad  father.  If  there  are  any  persons  de- 
pendent on  him  for  support ;  if  he  idles  away  the  time, 
which  he  ought  to  devote  to  maintaining  his  wife,  and 
his  children,  or  his  aged  parents,  he  then  becomes  a 
robber ;  a  man,  that  steals  the  bread  out  of  the  mouths  of 
his  own  family,  and  rends  the  clothes  off  their  backs. 
He  is  as  much  more  criminal  than  the  common  highway 
robber,  who  takes  the  stranger's  purse,  on  the  turnpike 
road,  as  the  ties  of  duty,  to  our  parents  and  children, 
are  beyond  those  of  common  justice,  between  man  and 
man.  But  I  suppose  it  would  not  require  much  argu- 
ment, to  show  that  the  person,  who  leaves  to  want 
those  whom  he  ought  to  support,  even  if  he  does  not 
pass  his  idle  hours  in  any  criminal  pursuit,  has  no  right 
to  call  himself  a  workingman. 

There  is  a  third  class  of  men,  whose  case  deserves 
consideration,  and  who  are  commonly  called  busybod- 
ies.  They  are  as  different  from  real  workingmen,  as 
light  is  from  darkness.  They  cannot  be  called  idlers, 
for  they  are  never  at  rest ;  nor  yet  workers,  for  they 
pursue  no  honest,  creditable  employment.  So  long  as 
they  are  merely  busybodies,  and  are  prompted  in  their 
officious,  fluttering,  unproductive  activity,  by  no  bad 
motive  and  no  malignant  passion,  they  cannot,  perhaps, 
be  excluded  from  the  party,  though  they  have  really  no 


THE  WORKINGMEN  S  PARTY.  121 

claim  to  be  admitted  into  it.  But  here,  too,  (he  case 
of  a  mere  busybody  scarce  ever  occurs.  This  character 
is  almost  always  something  more  ;  a  dangerous  gossip, 
a  tattling  mischiefmaker,  a  propagator,  too  frequently 
an  inventor,  of  slander.  He  repeats,  at  one  fireside, 
with  additions,  what  he  had  heard,  at  another,  under 
the  implied  obligation  of  confidence  ;  he  often  takes 
the  lead  in  uneasy  and  inconsiderate  movements,  safely 
intrenched  behind  his  neighbor,  whom  he  pushes  into 
trouble.  He  is  very  fond  of  writing  anonymous  libels, 
in  the  newspapers,  on  men  of  whom  he  knows  nothing. 
Such  men, — and  there  are  too  many  of  them, — ought 
to  be  excluded  from  the  party. 

Shutting  out,  then,  all  who  work  dishonestly,  and  all 
who  do  not  work  at  all,  and  admitting  the  busybodies 
with  great  caution,  the  workingmen's  party  compre- 
hends all  those,  by  whom  the  work  of  the  community 
is  really  done ;  all  those,  who,  by  any  kind  of  honest 
industry,  employ  the  talent  which  their  Creator  has  giv 
en  them.  All  these  form  one  party,  one  great  compre- 
hensive society,  and  this,  by  the  very  law  of  our  nature. 
Man  is  not  only,  as  I  observed  in  the  beginning,  a  work- 
ing being ;  but  he  is  a  being,  forced  to  work  in  socie- 
ty ;  and,  if  the  matter  be  carefully  analyzed,  it  will  be 
found,  that  civilization, — that  is,  the  bringing  men  out 
of  a  savage  into  a  cultivated  state, — consists  in  multiply- 
ing the  number  of  pursuits  and  occupations ;  so  that 
the  most  perfect  society  is  one,  where  the  largest  num- 
ber of  persons  are  prosperously  employed,  in  the  great- 
est variety  of  ways.  In  such  a  society,  men  help  each 
other,  instead  of  standing  in  each  other's  way.  The 
further  this  division  of  labor  is  carried,  the  more  persons 
must  unite,  harmoniously,  to  effect  the  common  ends. 
The  larger  the  number,  on  which  each  depends,  the 
larger  the  number,  to  which  each  is  useful. 

This  union  of  different  kinds  of  workmen,  in  one 
harmonious  society,  seems  to  be  laid,  in  the  very  struc- 
ture and  organization  of  man.  Man  is  a  being,  consist- 
ing of  a  body  and  a  soul.  These  words  are  soon  utter- 

11  E.  E. 


122  THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY. 

ed,  and  they  are  so  often  uttered,  that  the  mighty  truth, 
which  is  embraced  in  them,  scarce  ever  engages  our 
attention.  But  man  is  composed  of  body  and  soul. 
What  is  body  ?  It  is  material  substance ;  it  is  clay, 
dust,  ashes.  Look  at  it,  as  you  tread  it,  unorganized, 
beneath  your  feet ;  contemplate  it,  when,  after  having 
been  organized  and  animated,  it  returns,  by  a  process 
of  corruption,  to  its  original  state.  Matter,  in  its  ap 
pearance  to  us,  is  an  unorganized,  inanimate,  cold,  dull, 
and  barren,  thing.  What  it  is,  in  its  essence,  no  one, 
but  the  Being  who  created  it,  knows.  The  human 
mind  can  conceive  of  it,  but  in  a  negative  way.  What 
is  the  soul  1  Its  essence  is  as  little  known  to  us,  as  that 
of  body ;  but  its  qualities  are  angelic,  divine.  It  is  the 
soul,  which  thinks,  reasons,  invents,  remembers,  hopes, 
and  loves.  It  is  the  soul,  which  lives ;  for,  when  the 
soul  departs  from  the  body,  all  its  vital  powers  cease  ; 
and  it  is  dead :  and  what  is  the  body,  then  ? 

Now  the  fact,  to  which  I  wish  to  call  your  attention, 
is,  that  these  two  elements,  one  of  which  is  akin  to  the 
poorest  dust  on  which  we  tread,  and  the  other  of  which 
is  of  the  nature  of  angelic,  and  even  of  divine  intelli- 
gence, are,  in  every*  human  being,  without  exception, 
brought  into  a  most  intimate  and  perfect  union.  We 
can  conceive,  that  it  might  have  been  different.  We 
believe  in  the  existence  of  incorporeal  beings,  of  a  na- 
ture higher  than  man ;  and  we  behold,  beneath  us,  in 
brutes,  plants,  and  stones,  various  orders  of  material 
nature,  rising,  one  above  another,  in  organization ;  but 
none  of  them  (as  we  suppose)  possessing  mind.  We 
can  imagine  a  world,  so  constituted,  that  all  the  in- 
tellect would  have  been  by  itself,  pure  and  disem- 
bodied ;  and  all  the  material  substance  by  itself,  unmix- 
ed with  mind ;  and  acted  upon  by  mind,  as  inferior 
beings  are  supposed  to  be  acted  upon  by  angels.  But 
in  constituting  our  race,  it  pleased  the  Creator  to  bring 
the  two  elements  into  the  closest  union ;  to  take  the 
body  from  the  dust ;  the  soul  from  the  highest  heaven ; 
and  mould  them  into  one  being. 


THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY.  123 

The  consequence  is,  that  the  humblest  laborer,  who 
works  with  his  hands,  possesses  within  him  a  soul, 
endowed  with  precisely  the  same  faculties  as  those, 
which,  in  Franklin,  in  Newton,  or  Shakspeare,  have 
been  the  light  and  the  wonder  of  the  world.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  most  gifted  and  ethereal  genius  whose 
mind  has  fathomed  the  depths  of  the  heavens,  and 
comprehended  the  whole  circle  of  truth,  is  enclosed  in 
a  body,  subject  to  the  same  passions,  infirmities,  and 
wants,  as  the  man  whose  life  knows  no  alternation,  but 
labor  and  rest,  appetite  and  indulgence. 

Did  it  stop  here,  it  would  be  merely  an  astonishing 
fact,  in  the  constitution  of  our  natures.  But  it  does 
not  stop  here.  In  consequence  of  the  union  of  the  two 
principles,  in  the  human  nature,  every  act,  that  a  man 
performs,  requires  the  agency  both  of  body  and  mind. 
His  mind  cannot  see,  but  through  the  optic  eyeglass ; 
nor  hear,  till  the  drum  of  his  ear  is  affected  by  the  vi- 
brations of  the  air.  If  he  would  speak,  he  puts  in  action 
the  complex  machinery  of  the  vocal  organs  ;  if  he  writes, 
he  employs  the  muscular  system  of  the  hands  ;  nor  can 
he  satisfactorily  perform  the  operations  of  thought,  ex- 
cept in  a  healthy  state  of  the  body.  A  fit  of  the  tooth- 
ache, proceeding  from  the  irritation  of  a  nerve  about  as 
big  as  a  cambric-thread,  is  enough  to  drive  an  under- 
standing, capable  of  instructing  the  world,  to  the  verge 
of  insanity.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  operation 
of  manual  labor,  so  simple,  so  mechanical,  which  does 
not  require  the  exercise  of  perception,  reflection,  mem- 
ory, and  judgement ;  the  same  intellectual  powers,  by 
which  the  highest  truths  of  science  have  been  discover- 
ed and  illustrated. 

The  degree,  to  which  any  particular  action  (or  series 
of  actions  united  into  a  pursuit)  shall  exercise  the  in- 
tellectual powers,  on  the  one  hand,  or  the  mechanical 
powers,  on  the  other,  of  course,  depends  on  the  nature 
of  that  action.  The  peasant,  whose  life,  from  childhood 
to  the  grave,  is  passed  in  the  field  ;  the  New  Zealander, 
who  goes  to  war,  when  he  is  hungry,  devours  his  pris- 


124  THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY. 

oners,  and  leads  a  life  of  cannibal  debauch,  till  he  has 
consumed  them  all,  and  then  goes  to  war  again ;  the 
Greenlander,  who  warms  himself  with  the  fragments  of 
wrecks  and  drift-wood  thrown  upon  the  glaciers,  and 
feeds  himself  with  blubber ;  seem  all  to  lead  lives  re- 
quiring but  little  intellectual  action  ;  and  yet,  as  I  have 
remarked,  a  careful  reflection  would  show  that  there  is 
not  one,  even  of  them,  who  does  not,  every  moment  of 
his  life,  call  into  exercise,  though  in  an  humble  degree, 
all  the  powers  of  the  mind.  In  like  manner,  the  phi- 
losopher, who  shuts  himself  up  in  his  cell,  and  leads  a 
contemplative  existence  among  books  or  instruments 
of  science,  seems  to  have  no  occasion  to  employ,  in  their 
ordinary  exercise,  many  of  the  capacities  of  his  nature, 
for  physical  action  ;  although  he,  also,  as  I  have  observ- 
ed, cannot  act,  or  even  think,  but  with  the  aid  of  his 
body. 

The  same  Creator,  who  made  man  a  mixed  being 
composed  of  body  and  soul,  having  designed  him  for 
such  a  world  as  that  in  which  we  live,  has  so  constitu- 
ted the  world  and  man  who  inhabits  it,  as  to  afford 
scope  for  great  variety  of  occupations,  pursuits,  and  con- 
ditions, arising  from  the  tastes,  characters,  habits,  vir- 
tues, and  even  vices,  of  men  and  communities.  For 
the  same  reason,  that,  though  all  men  are  alike  compos- 
ed of  body  and  soul,  yet  no  two  men,  probably,  are  ex- 
actly the  same,  in  respect  to  either ; — so  provision  has 
been  made  by  the  Author  of  our  being,  for  an  infinity 
of  pursuits  and  employments,  calling  out,  in  degrees  as 
various,  the  peculiar  powers  of  both  principles. 

But  I  have  already  endeavored  to  show  that  there  is 
no  pursuit  and  no  action,  that  does  not  require  the  uni- 
ted operation  of  both  ;  and  this,  of  itself,  is  a  broad,  nat- 
ural foundation,  for  the  union,  into  one  interest,  of  all 
in  the  same  community,  who  are  employed  in  honest 
work,  of  any  kind  ;  namely,  that,  however  various  their 
occupations,  they  are  all  working  with  the  same  instru- 
ments,— the  organs  of  the  body  and  the  powers  of  the 
mind. 


THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY.  125 

But  we  may  go  a  step  further,  to  remark  the  beauti- 
ful process,  by  which  Providence  has  so  interlaced  and 
wrought  up  together  the  pursuits,  interests,  and  wants, 
of  our  nature,  that  the  philosopher,  whose  home  seems 
less  on  earth  than  among  the  stars,  requires,  for  the 
prosecution  of  his  studies,  the  aid  of  numerous  artific- 
ers in  various  branches  of  mechanical  industry ;  and, 
in  return,  furnishes  the  most  important  facilities  to  the 
humblest  branches  of  manual  laboY.  Let  us  take,  as  a 
single  instance,  that  of  astronomical  science.  It  may 
be  safely  said,  that  the  wonderful  discoveries  of  mod- 
ern astronomy,  and  the  philosophical  system  depend- 
ing upon  them,  could  not  have  existed,  but  for  the  tel- 
escope. The  want  of  the  telescope  kept  astronomical 
science  in  its  infancy,  among  the  ancients.  Although 
Pythagoras,  one  of  the  earliest  Greek  philosophers,  is 
supposed  to  have  had  some  conception  of  the  elements 
of  the  Copernican  system,  yet  we  find  no  general  and 
practical  improvement  resulting  from  it.  In  fact,  it 
sunk  beneath  the  false  theories  of  subsequent  philoso- 
phers. It  was  only  from  the  period  of  the  discoveries 
made  by  the  telescope,  that  the  science  advanced,  with 
sure  and  rapid  progress.  Now  the  astronomer  does  not 
make  telescopes.  I  presume  it  would  be  impossible  for 
a  person,  who  employed,  in  the  abstract  study  of  astro- 
nomical science,  time  enough  to  comprehend  its  pro- 
found investigations,  to  learn  and  practise  the  trade  of 
making  glass.  It  is  not  less  true,  that  those,  employed 
in  making  the  glass  could  not,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
be  expected  to  acquire  the  scientific  knowledge,  re- 
quisite for  carrying  on  those  arduous  calculations,  ap- 
plied to  bring  into  a  system  the  discoveries,  made  by 
the  magnifying  power  of  the  telescope.  I  might  ex- 
tend the  same  remark  to  the  other  materials,  of  which 
a  telescope  consists.  It  cannot  be  used,  to  any  pur- 
pose of  nice  observation,  without  being  very  carefully 
mounted,  on  a  frame  of  strong  metal ;  which  de- 
mands the  united  labors  of  the  mathematical-instru- 
ment-maker and  the  brass-founder.  Here,  then,  in 
11* 


126  THE  WORKWOMEN'S  PARTY. 

taking  but  one  single  step  out  of  the  philosopher's  ob- 
servatory, we  find  he  needs  an  instrument,  to  be  pro- 
duced by  the  united  labors  of  the  mathematical-instru- 
ment-maker, the  brass-founder,  the  glass-polisher,  and 
the  maker  of  glass, — four  trades.*  He  must  also  have 
an  astronomical  clock ;  and  it  would  be  easy  to  count 
up  half  a  dozen  trades,  which,  directly  or  indirectly, 
are  connected  in  making  a  clock.  . 

But  let  us  go  back"to  the  objedglass  of  the  telescope. 
A  glass-factory  requires  a  building  and  furnaces.  The 
man,  who  makes  the  glass,  does  not  make  the  building. 
But  the  stone  and  brick  mason,  the  carpenter,  and  the 
blacksmith,  must  furnish  the  greater  part  of  the  labor 
and  skill,  required  to  construct  the  building.  When  it  is 
built,  a  large  quantity  of  fuel,  wood  and  wood-coal,  or 
mineral  coal,  of  various  kinds,  or  all  together,  must  be 
provided ;  and  then,  the  materials,  of  which  the  glass 
is  made,  and  with  which  it  is  colored,  some  of  which 
are  furnished,  by  commerce,  from  different  and  distant 
regions,  and  must  be  brought  in  ships,  across  the  sea. 
We  cannot  take  up  any  one  of  these  trades,  without 
immediately  finding  that  it  connects  itself  with  numer- 
ous others.  Take,  for  instance,  the  mason,  who  builds 
the  furnace.  He  does  not  make  his  own  bricks,  nor 
burn  his  own  lirne ;  in  common  cases,  the  bricks  come 
from  one  place,  the  lime  from  another,  the  sand  from 
another.  The  brickmaker  does  not  cut  down  his  own 
wood.  It  is  carted  or  brought  in  boats  to  his  brick- 
yard. The  man,  who  carts  it,  does  not  make  his  own 
wagon ;  nor  does  the  person,  who  brings  it  in  boats, 
build  his  own  boat.  The  man.  who  makes  the  wagon, 
does  not  make  its  tire.  The  blacksmith,  who  makes 
the  tire,  does  not  smelt  the  ore ;  and  the  forgeman, 
who  smelts  the  ore,  does  not  build  his  own  furnace, 
(and  there  we  get  back  to  the  point  whence  we  start- 
ed,) nor  dig  his  own  mine.  The  man,  who  digs  the 
mine,  does  not  make  the  pickaxe,  with  which  he  digs 

*  The  allusion  is  here  to  the  simplest  form  of  a  telescope.  The 
illustration  would  be  stronger,  in  the  case  of  a  reflector. 


THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY.  127 

it ;  nor  the  pump,  with  which  he  keeps  out  the  water. 
The  man,  who  makes  the  pump,  did  not  discover  the 
principle  of  atmospheric  pressure,  which  led  to  pump- 
making  ;  that  was  done  by  a  mathematician,  at  Flor- 
ence,* experimenting,  in  his  chamber,  on  a  glass  tube. 
And  here  we  come  back,  again,  to  our  glass ;  and  to 
an  instance  of  the  close  connexion  of  scientific  research, 
with  practical  art.  It  is  plain,  that  this  enumeration 
might  be  pursued,  till  every  art  and  every  science  were 
shown  to  run  into  every  other.  No  one  can  doubt  this, 
who  will  go  over  the  subject,  in  his  own  mind,  begin- 
ning with  any  one  of  the  processes  of  mining  and  work- 
ing metals,  of  ship-building  and  navigation,  and  the 
other  branches  of  art  and  industry,  pursued  in  civilized 
communities. 

If,  then,  on  the  one  hand,  the  astronomer  depends, 
for  his  telescope,  on  the  ultimate  product  of  so  many 
arts ;  in  return,  his  observations  are  the  basis  of  an 
astronomical  system,  and  of  calculations  of  the  move- 
ments of  the  heavenly  bodies,  which  furnish  the  marin- 
er with  his  best  guide  across  the  ocean.  The  prudent 
shipmaster  would  no  more  think  of  sailing  for  India, 
without  his  Practical  Navigator,  than  he  would  with- 
out his  compass ;  and  this  Navigator  contains  tables, 
drawn  from  the  highest  walks  of  astronomical  science. 
Every  first  mate  of  a  vessel,  who  works  a  lunar  obser- 
vation, to  ascertain  the  ship's  longitude,  employs  tables, 
in  which  the  most  wonderful  discoveries  and  calcula- 
tions of  Newton,  La  Place,  and  Bowditch,  are  inter- 
woven. 

I  mention  this,  as  but  one  of  the  cases,  in  which  as- 
tronomical science  promotes  the  service  and  convenience 
of  common  life ;  and  perhaps,  when  we  consider  the 
degree  to  which  the  modern  extension  of  navigation 
connects  itself  with  industry,  in  all  its  branches,  this 
may  be  thought  sufficient.  I  will  only  add,  that  the 
cheap  convenience  of  an  almanac,  which  enters  into  the 
comforts  of  every  fireside  in  the  Country,  could  not  be 

*  Torricelli. 


128  THE  WORKING-MEN' S   PARTY. 

enjoyed,  but  for  the  labors  and  studies  of  the  profound- 
est  philosophers.  Not  that  great  learning  or  talent  is 
now  required,  to  execute  the  astronomical  calculations 
of  an  almanac,  although  no  inconsiderable  share  of  each 
is  needed  for  this  purpose ;  but  because,  even  to  per- 
form these  calculations  requires  the  aid  of  tables,  which 
have  been  gradually  formed  on  the  basis  of  the  pro- 
foundest  investigations  of  the  long  line  of  philosophers, 
who  have  devoted  themselves  to  this  branch  of  science. 
For,  as  we  observed  on  the  mechanical  side  of  the  illus- 
tration, it  is  not  one  trade,  alone,  which  is  required,  to 
furnish  the  philosopher  with  his  instrument,  but  a  great 
variety  ;  so,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  the  philosopher, 
in  one  department,  who  creates  a  science  out  of  noth- 
ing. The  observing  astronomer  furnishes  materials  to 
the  calculating  astronomer,  and  the  calculator  derives 
methods  from  the  pure  mathematician  ;  and  a  long  suc- 
cession of  each,  for  ages,  must  unite  their  labors,  in  a 
great  result.  Without  the  geometry  of  the  Greeks  and 
the  algebra  of  the  Arabs,  the  analysis  of  Newton  and 
Leibnitz  might  never  have  been  invented. 

Examples  and  illustrations,  equally  instructive,  might 
be  found,  in  every  other  branch  of  industry.  The  man 
who  will  go  into  a  cotton  mill,  and  contemplate  it,  from 
the  great  water-wheel  that  gives  the  first  movement, 
(and  still  more,  from  the  steam-engine,  should  that  be 
the  moving  power ;)  who  will  observe  the  parts  of  the 
machinery,  and  the  various  processes  of  the  fabric,  till 
he  reaches  the  hydraulic  press,  with  which  it  is  made 
into  a  bale,  and  the  canal  or  rail-road,  by  which  it  is 
sent  to  market,  may  find  every  branch  of  trade,  and 
every  department  of  science,  literally  crossed,  inter- 
twined, interwoven,  with  every  other,  like  the  woof  and 
the  warp  of  the  article  manufactured.  Not  a  little  of 
the  spinning  machinery  is  constructed  on  principles, 
drawn  from  the  demonstrations  of  transcendental  math- 
ematics ;  and  the  processes  of  bleaching  and  dying,  now 
practised,  are  the  results  of  the  most  profound  research- 
es of  modern  chemistry.  And  if  this  does  not  satisfy 


THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY.  129 

the  inquirer,  let  him  trace  the  cotton  to  the  plantation, 
where  it  grew,  in  Georgia  or  Alabama ;  the  indigo  to 
Bengal ;  the  oil  to  the  olive  of  Italy,  or  the  fishing- 
grounds  of  the  Pacific  ocean ;  let  him  consider  Whit- 
ney's cotton-gin  ;*  Whittemore's  carding-machine  ;* 
the  power-loom  ;*  and  the  spinning  apparatus  ;*  and  all 
the  arts,  trades,  and  sciences,  directly  or  indirectly  con- 
nected with  these  ;  and  I  believe  he  will  soon  agree, 
that  one  might  start  from  a  yard  of  coarse  printed  cot- 
ton, which  costs  ten  cents,  and  prove  out  of  it,  as  out 
of  a  text,  that  every  art  and  science  under  heaven  had 
been  concerned  in  its  fabric. 

I  ought,  here,  to  allude,  also,  to  some  of  those  pur- 
suits, which  require  the  ability  to  exercise,  at  the  same 
time,  on  the  part  of  the  same  individual,  the  faculties, 
both  of  the  intellectual  and  physical  nature,  or  which 
unite  very  high  and  low  degrees  of  mental  power.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  the  talent  for  drawing  and  painting, 
possessed  by  some  men  to  sucli  an  admirable  degree, 
depends,  partly,  on  a  peculiar  organic  structure  of  the 
eye  and  of  the  muscles  of  the  hand,  which  gives  them 
their  more  delicate  perceptions  of  color,  and  their  great- 
er skill  in  delineation.  These,  no  doubt,  are  possessed 
by  many  individuals,  who  want  the  intellectual  talent, 
the  poetic  fire,  required  for  a  great  painter.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  can  conceive  of  a  man's  possessing  the 
invention  and  imagination  of  a  painter,  without  the  eye 
and  the  hand  required  to  embody,  on  the  canvass,  the 
ideas  and  images  in  his  mind.  When  the  two  unite, 
they  make  a  Raphael  or  a  Titian ;  a  Wilkie  or  an  All- 
ston.  An  accomplished  statuary,  such  as  Canova  or 
Chantrey,  must,  on  the  one  hand,  possess  a  soul  filled 
with  all  grand  and  lovely  images,  and  have  a  living  con- 
ception of  ideal  beauty ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
must  be  a  good  stonecutter,  and  able  to  take  a  hammer 
and  a  chisel  in  his  hand,  and  go  to  work  on  a  block  of 

*  For  a  description  of  all  which,  see  Bigelow's  '  Useful  Arts,'  con- 
stituting Volumes  XI.  and  XII.,  of  the  larger  series  of '  THE  SCHOOL 
LIBRARY.' 


130  THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY. 

marble,  and  chip  it  down,  to  the  lip  of  Apollo  or  the 
eyelid  of  Venus.  The  architect  must  be  practically 
acquainted  with  all  the  materials  of  building, — wood, 
brick,  mortar,  and  stone  ;  he  must  have  the  courage  and 
skill  to  plant  his  moles  against  the  heaving  ocean,  and 
to  hang  his  ponderous  domes  and  gigantic  arches  in 
the  air ;  while  he  must  have  taste,  to  combine  the 
rough  and  scattered  blocks  of  the  quarry  into  beauti- 
ful and  majestic  structures  ;  and  discern,  clearly,  in  his 
mind's  eye,  before  a  sledge  has  been  lifted,  the  eleva- 
tion and  proportions  of  the  temple.  The  poet  must 
know,  with  a  schoolmaster's  precision,  the  weight  of 
every  word,  and  what  vowel  follows  most  smoothly  on 
what  consonant ;  at  the  same  time,  that  his  soul  must 
be  stored  with  images,  feelings,  and  thoughts,  beyond 
the  power  of  the  boldest  and  most  glowing  language  to 
do  more  than  faintly  shadow  out.  The  surgeon  must, 
at  once,  have  a  mind  naturally  gifted  and  diligently 
trained,  to  penetrate  the  dark  recesses  of  organic  life ; 
and  a  nerve  and  tact,  which  will  enable  him  to  guide 
his  knife  among  veins  and  arteries,  out  of  sight,  in  the 
living  body  of  an  agonizing,  shrieking  fellow-creature, 
or  to  take  a  lancet  in  his  left  hand,  and  cut  into  the 
apple  of  the  eye.  The  lawyer  must  be  able  to  reason 
from  the  noblest  principles  of  human  duty,  and  the  most 
generous  feelings  of  human  nature ;  he  must  fully  com- 
prehend the  mighty  maze  of  the  social  relations ;  he 
must  carry  about  with  him,  a  stock  of  learning,  almost 
boundless ;  he  must  be  a  sort  of  god  to  men  and  com- 
munities, who  look  up  to  him,  in  the  hour  of  the  dear- 
est peril  of  their  lives  and  fortunes ;  and  he  must,  at 
the  same  time,  be  conversant  with  a  tissue  of  the  most 
senseless  fictions  and  arbitrary  technicalities  that  ever 
disgraced  a  liberal  science.  The  merchant  must  be  able 
to  look,  at  the  same  moment,  at  the  markets  and  ex- 
changes of  distant  countries  and  other  hemispheres,  and 
combine  considerations  of  the  political  condition,  the 
natural  wants,  the  tastes  and  habits,  of  different  parts  of 
the  world ;  and  he  must  be  expert  at  figures,  understand 


THE  WOBKINGMEN'S  PARTY.  -  131 

Dook-keeping,  by  double  entry,  and  know  as  well  how 
to  take  care  of  a  quarter  chest  of  tea,  as  a  cargo  of  spe- 
cie. The  general-in-chief  must  be  capable  of  calcula- 
ting, for  a  twelvemonth  in  advance,  the  result  of  a  con- 
test, in  which  all  the  power,  resource,  and  spirit  of  two 
great  empires  enter  and  struggle,  on  land  and  by  sea ; 
and  he  must  have  an  eye  that  can  tell,  at  a  glance, 
and  on  the  responsibility  of  his  life,  how  the  stone  walls, 
and  trenched  meadows,  the  barns,  and  the  woods,  and 
the  crossroads,  of  a  neighborhood,  will  favor  or  resist  the 
motions  of  a  hundred  thousand  men,  scattered  over  a 
space  of  five  miles,  in  the  fury  of  the  advance,  the  storm 
of  battle,  the  agony  of  iiight,  covered  with  smoke,  dust, 
and  blood. 

It  was  my  intention  to  subject  the  art  of  printing  to 
an  analysis  of  the  trades,  arts,  and  sciences  connected 
with  it ;  but  I  have  not  time  to  do  it  full  justice,  and 
the  bare  general  idea  need  not  be  repeated.  I  will 
only  say,  that,  beginning  with  the  invention  which  bears, 
in  popular  tradition,  the  name  of  Cadmus, — I  mean  the 
invention  of  alphabetical  signs,  to  express  sounds, — and 
proceeding  to  the  discovery  of  convenient  materials  for 
writing,  and  the  idea  of  written  discourse ;  thence,  to 
the  preparation  of  manuscript  books  ;  and  thence,  to  the 
fabric,  on  a  large  scale,  of  linen  and  cotton  paper,  the 
invention  of  movable  types  and  the  printing-press,  the 
art  of  engraving  on  metal,  of  stereotype  printing,  and 
of  the  power-press, — we  have  a  series  of  discoveries, 
branching  out  into  others,  in  every  department  of  hu- 
man pursuit ;  connecting  the  highest  philosophical  prin- 
ciples with  the  results  of  mere  manual  labor,  and  pro- 
ducing, in  the  end,  that  system  of  diffusing  and  multi- 
plying the  expression  of  thought,  which  is  perhaps  the 
glory  of  our  human  nature.  Pliny  said,  that  the  Egyp- 
tian reed  was  the  support,  on  which  the  immortal  fame 
of  man  rests.  He  referred  to  its  use,  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  paper.  We  may,  with  greater  justice,  say  as 
much  of  the  manufacture  of  paper  from  rags,  and  of 
the  printing-press,  neither  of  which  was  known  to  Pliny. 


132  THE  WORKWOMEN'S  PARTY. 

But,  with  all  the  splendor  of  modern  discoveries  and 
improvements  in  science  and  art,  I  cannot  but  think, 
that  he,  who,  in  the  morning  of  the  world,  first  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  representing  sounds  by  visible  signs, 
took  the  most  important  step,  in  the  march  of  improve- 
ment. This  sublime  conception  was  struck  out  in  the 
infancy  of  mankind.  The  name  of  its  author,  his  na- 
tive country,  and  the  time  when  he  lived,  are  known 
only  by  very  uncertain  tradition  ;  but,  though  all  the 
intelligence  of  ancient  and  modern  times,  and  in  the 
most  improved  countries,  has  been  concentred  into  a 
focus,  burning  and  blazing  upon  this  one  spot,  it  has 
never  been  able  to  reduce  it  to  any  simpler  elements, 
nor  to  improve,  in  the  slightest  degree, -upon  the  origi- 
nal suggestion  of  Cadmus. 

In  what  I  have  thus  far  submitted  to  you,  you  will 
probably  have  remarked,  that  I  have  illustrated,  chiefly, 
the  connexion  with  each  other  of  the  various  branches 
of  science  and  art ;  of  the  intellectual  and  physical  prin- 
ciples. I  have  not  distinctly  shown  the  connexion  of 
the  moral  principle,  in  all  its  great  branches,  with  both. 
This  subject  would  well  form  the  matter  of -a  separ- 
ate essay.  But  its  elementary  ideas  are  few  and  plain. 
The  arts  and  sciences,  whose  connexion  we  have  point- 
ed out,  it  is  plain,  require  for  their  cultivation  a  civilized 
state  of  society.  They  cannot  thrive  in  a  community 
which  is  not  in  a  state  of  regular  political  organization, 
under  an  orderly  system  of  government,  uniform  ad- 
ministration of  laws,  and  a  general  observance  of  the 
dictates  of  public  and  social  morality.  Further,  such  a 
community  cannot  exist,  without  institutions,  of  various 
kinds,  for  elementary,  professional,  and  moral  education  ; 
and  connected  with  these,  are  required  the  services  of 
a  large  class  of  individuals,  employed,  in  various  ways, 
in  the  business  of  instruction  ;  from  the  meritorious 
schoolmistress,  who  teaches  the  little  child  its  A,  B,  C, 
to  the  moralist,  who  lays  down  the  great  principles  of 
social  duty,  for  men  and  nations,  and  the  minister  of 
Divine  truth,  who  inculcates  those  sanctions,  by  which 


THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY.  133 

God  himself  enforces  the  laws  of  reason.  There  must, 
also,  be  a  class  of  men,  competent,  by  their  ability,  ed- 
ucation, and  experience,  to  engage  in  the  duty  of  mak- 
ing and  administering  the  law ;  for,  in  a  lawless  soci- 
ety, it  is  impossible  that  any  improvement  should  be 
permanent.  There  must  be  another  class,  competent 
to  afford  relief  to  the  sick,  and  thus  protect  our  frail 
natures  from  the  power  of  the  numerous  foes  that  assail 
them. 

It  needs  no  words  to  show,  that  all  these  pursuits 
are,  in  reality,  connected  with  the  ordinary  work  of  so- 
ciety, as  directly  as  the  mechanical  trades,  by  which  it 
is  carried  on.  For  instance,  nothing  would  so  serious- 
ly impair  the  prosperity  of  a  community,  as  an  unsound 
and  uncertain  administration  of  justice.  This  is  the 
last  and  most  fatal  symptom  of  decline,  in  a  state.  A 
community  can  bear  a  very  considerable  degree  of  po- 
litical despotism,  if  justice  is  duly  administered,  between 
man  and  man.  But,  where  a  man  has  no  security  that 
the  law  will  protect  him,  in  the  enjoyment  of-his  proper- 
ty ;  where  he  cannot  promise  himself  a  righteous  judge- 
ment, in  the  event  of  a  controversy  with  his  neighbor ; 
where  he  is  not  sure,  when  he  lies  down  at  night,  that 
his  slumbers  are  safe  ;  there,  he  loses  the  great  motives 
to  industry  and  probity ;  credit  is  shaken ;  enterprise 
disheartened,  and  the  state  declines.  The  profession, 
therefore,  which  is  devoted  to  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice,  renders  a  service  to  every  citizen  of  the  communi- 
ty, as  important  as  to  those  whose  immediate  affairs 
require  the  aid  of  legal  counsel. 

In  a  very  improved  and  civilized  community,  there 
are  also  numerous  individuals,  who,  without  being  em- 
ployed in  any  of  the  common  branches  of  industry  or 
of  professional  pursuit,  connect  themselves,  neverthe- 
less, with  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the  public, 
and  fill  a  useful  and  honorable  place  in  its  service. 
Take,  for  instance,  a  man  like  Sir  W alter  Scott,*  who, 

*  Sir  Walter  Scott  died  at  Abbotsford,  (Scotland,)  September  21, 
1832,  iii  the  sixty-second  year  of  his  age. 

12  E.  E. 


134  THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY. 

probably,  never  did  a  day's  work  in  his  life,  in  the  ordi- 
nary acceptation  of  the  term,  and  who  has,  for  some 
years,  retired  from  the  subordinate  station  he  filled,  in 
the  profession  of  the  law,  as  sheriff  of  the  county  and 
clerk  of  the  court.  He  has  written  and  published  at 
least  two  hundred  volumes,  of  wide  circulation.  What 
a  vast  amount  of  the  industry  of  the  community  is 
thereby  put  in  motion ! — The  booksellers,  printers, 
papermakers,  pressmakers,  typemakers,  bookbinders, 
leatherdressers,  inkmakers,  and  various  other  artisans 
required  to  print,  publish,  and  circulate,  the  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  volumes  of  the  different  works  which 
he  has  written,  must  be  almost  numberless.  I  have 
not  the  least  doubt,  that,  since  the  series  of  his  publica- 
tions began,  if  all,  whose  industry,  directly  or  remotely, 
has  been  concerned  in  them,  not  only  in  Great  Britain, 
but  in  America,  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  could 
be  brought  together,  and  stationed,  side  by  side,  as  the 
inhabitants  of  the  same  place,  they  would  form  a  town 
of  very  considerable  size.  Such  a  person  may  fairly  be 
ranked  as  a  workingman. 

And  yet,  I  take  this  to  be  the  least  of  Sir  Walter 
Scott's  deserts.  I  have  said  nothing  of  the  service  ren- 
dered to  every  class,  and  to  every  individual  in  every 
class,  by  the  writer,  who  beguiles  of  their  tediousness 
the  dull  hours  of  life  ;  who  animates  the  principle  of 
f  goodness,  within  us,  by  glowing  pictures  of  struggling 
virtue  ;  who  furnishes  our  young  men  and  women  with 
books,  which  they  may  read  with  interest,  and  not  have 
their  morals  poisoned,  as  they  read  them.  Our  habits, 
our  principles,  our  characters,  whatever  may  be  our  pur- 
suit in  life,  depend  very  much  on  the  nature  of  our 
youthful  pleasures,  and  on  the  mode  in  which  we  learn 
to  pass  our  leisure  hours.  And  he,  who,  with  the  bles- 
sing of  Providence,  has  been  able,  by  his  mental  efforts,, 
to  present  virtue,  in  her  strong  attractions,  and  vice,  in 
her  native  deformity,  to  the  rising  generation,  has  ren- 
dered a  service  to  the  public,  greater,  even,  than  his,  who 
invented  the  steam-engine  or  the  mariner's  compass 


THE  WOUKINGMEN'S  PARTY.  135 

I  have  thus  endeavored  to  show,  in  a  plain  manner, 
that  there  is  a  close  and  cordial  union  between  the  va- 
rious pursuits  and  occupations,  which  receive  the  atten- 
tion of  men,  in  a  civilized  community : — that  they  are 
links  of  the  same  chain,  every  one  of  which  is  essential 
to  its  strength. 

It  will  follow,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  as  the 
dictate  of  reason,  and  as  the  law  of  Nature,  that  every 
man  in  society,  whatever  his  pursuit,  who  devotes  him- 
self to  it,  with  an  honest  purpose,  and  in  the  fulfilment 
of  the  social  duty  which  Providence  devolves  upon  him, 
is  entitled  to  the  good  fellowship  of  each  and  every  oth- 
er member  of  the  community  ;  that  all  are  the  parts  of 
one  whole,  and  that,  between  those  parts,  as  there  is  but 
one  interest,  so  there  should  be  but  one  feeling. 

Before  I  close  this  lecture,  permit  me  to  dwell,  for  a 
short  time,  on  the  principle,  which  I  have  had  occa- 
sion to  advance,  that  the  immortal  element  of  our  na- 
ture,— the  reasoning  soul, — is  the  inheritance  of  all  our 
race.  As  it  is  this,  which  makes  man  superior  to  the 
beasts  that  perish  ;  so  it  is  this,  which,  in  its  moral  and 
intellectual  endowments,  is  the  sole  foundation  for  the 
only  distinctions  between  man  and  man,  which  have 
any  real  value.  This  reflection  shows  the  importance  of 
institutions  for  education  and  for  the  diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge. It  was  no  magic,  no  miracle,  which  made  New- 
ton, and  Franklin,  and  Fulton.  It  was  the  patient,  ju- 
dicious, long-continued  cultivation  of  powers  of  the 
understanding,  eminent,  no  doubt,  in  degree,  but  not 
differing,  in  kind,  from  those  which  are  possessed  by 
every  individual  in  this  assembly. 

Let  every  one,  then,  reflect,  especially  every  person 
not  yet  past  the  forming  period  of  his  life,  that  he  car- 
ries about,  in  his  frame,  as  in  a  casket,  the  most  glorious 
thing,  which,  this  side  heaven,  God  has  been  pleased  to 
create, — an  intelligent  spirit.  To  describe  its  nature, 
to  enumerate  its  faculties,  to  set  forth  what  it  has  done, 
to  estimate  what  it  can  do,  would  require  the  labor  of 
a  life  devoted  to  the  history  of  man.  It  would  be  vain, 


136  THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY. 

on  this  occasion  and  in  these  limits,  to  attempt  it.  But 
let  any  man  compare  his  own  nature  with  that  of  a  plant, 
of  a  brute  beast,  of  an  idiot,  of  a  savage  ;  and  then  con- 
sider, that  it  is  in  mind,  alone,  and  the  degree  to  which 
he  improves  it,  that  he  differs,  essentially,  from  any  of 
them. 

And  let  no  one  think  he  wants  opportunity,  encour- 
agement, or  means.  I  would  not  undervalue  these,  any 
or  all  of  them  ;  but,  compared  with  what  the  man  does 
for  himself,  they  are  of  little  account.  Industry,  tem- 
perance, and  perseverance,  are  worth  more  than  all  the 
patrons  that  ever  lived  in  all  the  Augustan  ages.  It  is 
these,  that  create  patronage  and  opportunity.  The 
cases  of  our  Franklin  and  Fulton  are  too  familiar,  to  bear 
repetition.  Consider  that  of  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  who 
died  in  1829,  and  who  was,  in  some  departments  of 
science,  the  first  philosopher  of  the  age.*  He  was  born 
at  Penzance,  in  Cornwall,  one  of  the  darkest  corners 
of  England  ;  his  father  was  a  carver  of  wooden  images 
for  signs,  and  figure-heads,  and  chimney-pieces.  He 
himself  was  apprenticed  to  an  apothecary,  and  made  his 
first  experiments  in  chemistry  with  his  master's  phials 
and  gallipots,  aided  by  an  old  syringe,  which  had  been 
given  him  by  the  surgeon  of  a  French  vessel,  wrecked  on 
the  Land's  End.  From  the  shop  of  the  apothecary,  he 
was  transferred  to  the  office  of  a  surgeon  ;  and  never 
appears  to  have  had  any  other  education,  than  that  of  a 
Cornish  school,  in  his  boyhood.  Such  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  career  of  the  man,  who,  at  the  age  of  .twen- 
ty-two, was  selected,  by  our  own  countryman,  Count 
Rumford,  (himself  a  self-taught  benefactor  of  mankind,) 
to  fill  the  chair  of  chemistry  at  the  Royal  Institution,  in 
London  ;  such  was  the  origin  and  education  of  the  man, 
who  discovered  the  metallic  basis  of  the  alkalies  and  the 
earths ;  invented  the  safety-lamp ;  and  placed  himself, 
in  a  few  years,  in  the  chair  of  the  Royal  Society  of 

*  The  sketch  of  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  which  follows,  lo  the  end  of 
the  lecture,  is  abridged  from  the  article  in  the  Annual  Biography  for 
1830. 


THE  WORKWOMEN'S  PARTY.  137 

London,  and  at  the  head  of  the  chemists  of  Europe. 
Sir  Humphrey  Davy's  most  brilliant  discoveries  were 
effected  by  his  skilful  application  of^  the  galvanic  elec- 
tricity, a  principle,  whose  existence  had  been  detected, 
a  few  years  before,  by  an  Italian  philosopher,  from  no- 
ticing the  contractions  of  a  frog's  limb ;  a  fact,  which 
shows  how  near  us,  in  every  direction,  the  most  curious 
facts  lie  scattered  by  Nature.  With  an  apparatus  con- 
trived by  himself,  to  collect  and  condense  this  powerful 
auent,  Sir  Humphrey  succeeded  in  decomposing  the 
earths  and  the  alkalies  ;  and  in  extracting  from  common 
potash,  the  metal  (before  unknown)  which  forms  its 
base  ;  possessing,  at  seventy  degrees  of  the  thermome- 
ter, the  lustre  and  general  appearance  of  mercury  ;  at 
fifty  degrees,  the  appearance  of  polished  .silver,  and  the 
softness  of  wax  ;  so  light,  that  it  swims  in  water ;  and 
so  inflammable,  that  it  takes  fire,  when  thrown  on  ice. 

These  are,  perhaps,  but  brilliant  novelties ;  though 
connected,  no  doubt,  in  the  great  chain  of  cause  and 
effect,  with  principles  of  art  and  science,  conducive  to 
the  service  of  man.  But  the  invention  of  the  safety- 
lamp,  which  enables  the  miner  to  walk,  with  safety, 
through  an  atmosphere  of  explosive  gas,  and  has  already 
preserved  the  lives  of  hundreds  of  human  beings,  is  a 
title  to  glory  and  the  gratitude  of  his  fellow  men,  which 
the  most  renowned  destroyer  of  his  race  might  envy. 

The-  counsels  of  such  a  man,  in  his  retirement  and 
seasons  of  meditation,  are  worth  listening  to.  I  am  sure 
you  will  think  I  bring  this  lecture  to  the  best  conclusion, 
by  repeating  a  sentence  from  one  of  his  moral  works : — 

"  I  envy,"  says  he,  "  no  quality  of  the  mind  or  intellect, 
in  others  ;  not  genius,  power,  wit,  nor  fancy  ;  but,  if  I 
could  choose  what  would  be  most  delightful,  and,  I  be- 
lieve, most  useful  to  me,  I  should  prefer  A  FIRM  RELIG- 
IOUS BELIEF  to  every  other  blessing." 
12* 


138  ADVANTAGE  OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE. 


ADVANTAGE  OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE  TO 
WORKINGMEN.* 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  numerous  institutions  for  pro- 
moting useful  knowledge,  in  our  community,  it  was  still 
found,  that  many  were  excluded  from  the  benefit  of 
them.  The  number  of  persons,  that  can  be  accommo- 
dated in  any  one  hall,  is,  of  course,  limited  ;  and  it  has 
been  thought  desirable  to  make  the  attempt  to  provide 
an  additional  course  of  lectures,  on  the  various  branch- 
es of  useful  knowledge,  for  the  benefit  of  those,  who 
have  not  had  it  in  their  power,  for  this  or  any  other 
reason,  to  obtain  access  to  the  other  institutions,  which 
have  set  so  praiseworthy  an  example,  in  this  work  of 
public  utility.  We  are  assembled,  this  evening,  to 
make  the  beginning  of  this  new  course  of  popular  in- 
struction. 

The  plan  of  this  course  of  lectures  was  suggested  at 
so  late  a  period,  this  year,  that  it  may  not,  perhaps,  be 
possible,  the  present  season,  to  carry  it  fully  into  effect, 
in  such  a  manner  as  is  wished  and  designed,  in  ref- 
erence to  the  choice  and  variety  of  subjects.  It  is  in- 
tended, eventually,  that  it  should  extend  to  the  various 
branches  of  natural  science.  It  will  impart  useful  in- 
formation, relative  to  the  Earth,  the  Air,  and  the  Ocean  ; 
the  wonders  of  the  heavens ;  and  the  mineral  treasures 
beneath  the  surface  of  the  globe.  It  may  extend  to  the 
different  branches  of  natural  history,  and  acquaint  you 
with  the  boundless  variety  of  the  animated  creation. 
The  various  properties  of  bodies  will  form  a  prominent 
subject  of  consideration,  as  the  basis  of  so  many  of  the 
arts  and  trades,  and  the  sources  from  which  so  many 
of  the  wants  of  man  arc  supplied.  In  like  manner,  the 
various  natural  powers,  the  agency  of  fire,  water,  steam, 

*  An  Address  delivered  as  the  introduction  to  the  Franklin  Lectures, 
in  Boston,  November  14,  1831. 


TO  WORKINGMEN.  139 

and  weight,  which,  in  their  various  combinations,  pro- 
duce the  wonders  of  improved  machinery,  by  which  in- 
dustry is  facilitated,  and  the  most  important  fabrics  are 
furnished,  cheaply  and  abundantly,  will  not  be  overlook- 
ed. It  may  be  supposed,  that  a  due  share  of  attention 
will  be  paid  to  the  geographical  survey  of  the  globe,  to 
the  history  of  our  own  race,  the  fortunes  of  the  several 
nations,  into  which  mankind  have  been  divided,  and 
the  characters  of  great  and  good  men,  who,  long  after 
they  have  departed  from  life,  survive  in  the  gratitude 
and  admiration  of  their  fellow-men.  A  general  and 
intelligible  view  of  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the 
country,  in  which  we  have  the  happiness  to  live,  tend- 
ing, as  it  will,  to  enlighten  us  in  the  discharge  of  our 
duties,  as  citizens,  will  no  doubt  be  presented  to  you, 
by  some,  who  will  take  a  part  in  these  lectures.  Nor 
will  they,  I  venture  to  hope,  be  brought  to  a  close,  with- 
out having  occasionally  directed  your  thoughts  to  those 
views  of  our  nature,  which  belong  to  man,  as  a  rational 
and  immortal  being,  and  to  those  duties  and  relations 
which  appertain  to  us,  as  accountable  agents. 

The  general  plan  of  these  lectures  extends  to  these 
and  all  other  branches  of  sound  and  useful  knowledge ; 
to  be  treated  in  such  order,  as  circumstances  may  sug- 
gest ;  and  with  such  variety  and  selection  of  subjects, 
and  fulness  of  detail,  as  the  convenience  of  the  lec- 
turers and  the  advantage  of  the  audience  may  dictate. 
They  have  been  called  the  Franklin  Lectures,  in  honor 
of  our  distinguished  townsman,  the  immortal  Franklin,* 
the  son  of  a  tallow-chandler,  and  the  apprentice  to  a 
printer,  in  this  town  ;  a  man,  who  passed  all  his  early 
years,  and  a  very  considerable  portion  of  his  life,  in 
manual  industry  ;  and  who  was  chiefly  distinguished 
by  his  zealous  and  successful  efforts  for  the  promotion 
of  useful  knowledge.  His  name  has  given  lustre  to  the 
highest  walks  of  science,  and  adorns  one  of  the  proud- 
est pages  of  the  history  of  our  Country  and  the  world. 

*  For  a  life  of  Franklin,  see  one  of  the  volumes  of  «  THE  SCHOOL 
LIBRARY.' 


140  ADVANTAGE  OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE 

But  we  have  thought  it  was  still  more  a  name  of  hope 
and  promise,  for  an  institution  like  this,  which  aims  to 
promote  useful  knowledge  (the  great  study  of  his  life) 
among  that  class  of  our  fellow-citizens,  from  which  it 
was  ever  his  pride  himself  to  have  sprung. 

It  would  seem,  at  the  commencement  of  a  course  of 
public  instruction  of  this  kind,  a  pertinent  inquiry,  Why 
should  we  endeavor  to  cultivate  and  inform  our  minds, 
by  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  ? 

This  question,  to  whiclo  the  good  sense  of  every 
individual  furnishes,  without  meditation,  some  general 
reply,  demands  a  full  and  careful  answer.  I  shall  en- 
deavor, in  this  address,  to  state  some  of  the  reasons, 
which  go  to  furnish  such  an  answer. 

All  men  should  seek  to  cultivate  and  inform  their 
minds,  by  the  pursuit  of  useful  knowledge,  as  the  great 
means  of  happiness  and  usefulness. 

All  other  things  being  equal,  the  pursuit  and  attain- 
ment of  knowledge  are,  at  the  time,  the  surest  source 
of  happiness.  I  do  not  mean,  that  knowledge  will  make 
up  for  the  want  of  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life : 
it  will  not  relieve  pain,  heal  sickness,  nor  bring  back 
lost  friends.  But  if  knowledge  will  not  do  this,  igno- 
rance will  do  it  still  less.  And  it  may  even  be  affirmed, 
and  all,  who  have  made  the  experiment,  themselves, 
will  testify  to  the  truth  of  the  remark,  that  nothing 
tends  more  to  soothe  the  wounded  feelings,  to  steal 
away  the  mind  from  its  troubles,  and  to  fill  up  the  wea- 
riness of  a  sick  chamber  and  a  sick  bed,  than,  for  in- 
stance, some  intelligible,  entertaining,  good  book,  read 
or  listened  to. 

But  knowledge  is  still  more  important,  as  the  means 
of  being  useful ;  and  the  best  part  of  the  happiness, 
which  it  procures  us,  is  of  that  purer  and  higher  kind, 
which  flows  from  the  consciousness  that,  in  some  way 
or  other,  by  example  or  positive  service,  we  have  done 
good  to  our  fellow-men.  One  of  the  greatest  modern 
philosophers  said  that  knowledge  is  power ;  but  it  is 
power,  because  it  is  usefulness.  It  gives  men  influence 


TO  WORKINGMEN.  141 

over  their  fellow-men,  because  it  enables  its  possessors 
to  instruct,  to  counsel,  to  direct,  to  please,  and  to  serve, 
their  fellow-men.  Nothing  of  this  can  be  done,  with- 
out the  cultivation  and  improvement  of  the  mind. 

It  is  the  mind,  which  enables  us  to  be  useful,  even 
with  our  bodily  powers.  What  is  strength,  without 
knowledge  to  apply  it  ?  What  are  the  curiously-organ- 
ized hands,  without  skill  to  direct  their  motion  ?  The 
idiot  has  all  the  bodily  organs  and  senses  of  the  most 
intelligent  and  useful  citizen. 

It  is  through  mind,  that  man  has  obtained  the  mas- 
tery of  Nature  and  all  its  elements,  and  subjected  the 
inferior  races  of  animals  to  himself.  Take  an  unin- 
formed savage,  a  brutalized  Hottentot ;  in.  short,  any 
human  being,  in  whom  the  divine  spark  of  reason  has 
never  been  kindled  to  a  flame ;  and  place  him  on  the 
seashore,  in  a  furious  storm,  when  the  waves  are  roll- 
ing in,  as  if  the  fountains  of  the  deep  were  broken  up. 
Did  you  not  know,  from  certain  experience,  that  man, 
by  the  cultivation  of  his  mind,  and  the  application 
of  the  useful  arts,  had  actually  constructed  vessels,  in 
which  he  floats  securely,  on  the  top  of  these  angry 
waves,  you  would  not  think  it  possible,  that  a  being, 
like  that  we  have  mentioned,  could  for  one  moment 
resist  their  fury.  It  is  related  of  some  of  the  North- 
American  Indians,  a  race  of  men  who  are  trained,  from 
their  infancy,  to  the  total  suppression  of  their  emotions 
of  every  kind,  and  who  endure  the  most  excruciating 
torments,  at  the  stake,  without  signs  of  suffering,  that, 
when  they  witnessed,  for  the  first  time,  on  the  western 
waters  of  the  United  States,  the  spectacle  of  a  steam- 
boat under  way,  moving  along,  without  sails  or  oars,  and 
spouting  fire  and  smoke,  even  they  could  not  refrain 
from  exclamations  of  wonder.  Hold  out  a  handful  of 
wheat  or  Indian  corn  to  a  person  wholly  uninformed 
of  their  nature,  and  ignorant  of  the  mode  of  cultivating 
them,  and  tell  him,  that,  by  scattering  these  dry  kernels 
abroad,  and  burying  them  in  the  cold,  damp  earth,  you 
can  cause  a  harvest  to  spring  up,  sufficient  for  a  Win- 


142  ADVANTAGE  OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE 

ter's  supply  of  food,  and  he  will  think  you  are  mocking 
him,  by  vain  and  extravagant  tales.  But  it  is  not  the 
less  true,  that,  in  these  instances  as  in  all  others,  it 
is  the  mind  of  man,  possessed  of  the  necessary  knowl- 
edge and  skill,  that  brings  into  useful  operation,  for  the 
supply  of  human  want,  and  the  support  and  comfort  of 
human  life,  the  properties  and  treasures  of  the  natural 
world,  the  aid  of  inferior  animals,  and  even  our  own 
physical  powers. 

When,  therefore,  we  improve  our  minds,  by  the  ac- 
quisition of  useful  knowledge,  we  appropriate  to  our- 
selves, and  extend  to  others  to  whom  we  may  impart 
our  knowledge,  a  share  of  this  natural  control  over  all 
other  things,  which  Providence  has  granted  to  his  ra- 
tional children. 

It  cannot,  it  is  true,  be  expected  to  fall  to  the  lot  of 
many  individuals,  by  extending  their  knowledge  of  the 
properties  and  laws  of  the  natural  world,  to  strike  out 
new  discoveries  and  inventions,  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance. It  is  as  much  as  most  men  can  hope,  and  prom- 
ise themselves,  to  be  enabled  to  share  the  comfort  and 
benefit  of  the  unnumbered  improvements,  which,  from 
the  beginning  of  time,  have  been  made  by  others  ;  and 
which,  taken  together,  make  up  the  civilization  of  man. 
Still,  there  are  examples,  in  almost  every  age,  of  men, 
who,  by  the  happy  effects  of  their  individual  pursuit 
of  useful  knowledge,  have  conferred  great  benefits  upon 
all  mankind.  I  presume,  that,  in  consequence  of  three 
inventions, — that  of  the  machinery  for  spinning  cotton, 
that  of  the  power-loom,  and  that  of  the  mode  of  separa- 
ting the  seed  of  the  cotton  plant  from  the  fibrous  por- 
tion to  which  it  adheres, — the  expense  of  necessary 
clothing  is  diminished,  two  thirds,  for  every  man  in 
Europe  and  America.*  In  other  words,  the  useful 
knowledge,  imparted  to  the  world  by  the  authors  of 
these  inventions,  has  enabled  every  man,  woman,  and 
child,  in  the  civilized  world,  as  far  as  clothing  is  con- 

*  See  notes  on  pages  77,  89,  144. 


TO  WORKING  MEN.  143 

cerned,  to  live  at  one  third  of  the  former  cost.  We 
are  struck  with  astonishment,  when  we  behold  these 
curious  machines ;  when  we  look,  for  instance,  at  a 
watch,  and  see  a  few  brass  wheels,  put  in  motion  by  a 
small  piece  of  elastic  steel,  counting  out  the  hours  and 
minutes,  by  night  and  by  day,  and  even  enabling  the 
navigator  to  tell  how  many  miles  he  has  sailed,  upon 
the  waste  ocean,  where  there  are  no  marks  or  monu- 
ments, by  which  he  can  measure  his  progress.  But 
how  much  more  wonderful  is  the  mind  of  man,  which, 
in  the  silence  of  the  closet,  turned  in  upon  itself,  and 
deeply  meditating  upon  the  properties  and  laws  of  mat- 
ter, has  contrived  this  wonderfifl  machine  ! 

The  invention  of  the  power-loom,  by  Mr.  Cartwright, 
beautifully  illustrates  the  strength  and  reach  of  the  in- 
tellectual principle,  resolutely  applied  to  a  given  object. 
In  consequence  of  Arkwright's  machinery  for  spin- 
ning, it  was  soon  found,  that  there  would  be  a  difficul- 
ty in  weaving  all  the  yarn  that  could  be  spun.  It  was 
remarked,  in  a  company  where  Mr.  Cartwright  was 
present,  in  1784,  that,  in  order  to  remedy  this  evil, 
Mr.  Arkwright  must  exercise  his  ingenuity,  and  invent 
a  weaving  mill,  in  order  to  work  up  the  yarn  which 
should  be  spun  in  his  spinning  mills.  The  subject  was 
discussed ;  and  it  was  pronounced  by  the  gentlemen 
present,  who  were  manufacturers  from  Manchester,  in 
England,  to  be  impossible.  Mr.  Cartwright  thought 
otherwise :  he  said,  there  had  been  lately  exhibited,  in 
London,  a  machine  for  playing  chess  ;  and  he  felt  quite 
sure,  that  it  could  not  be  more  difficult  to  construct  a 
machine  to  weave  cloth,  than  a  machine  which  could 
go  through  all  the  movements  of  such  a  complicated 
game.  Mr.  Cartwright  was  a  clergyman,  forty  years 
old,  and  had  never  given  his  attention  to  the  subject  of 
machinery.  This  subject,  however,  was  so  strongly  on 
his  mind,  that,  sometime  afterwards,  he  resolved  to 
make  the  attempt,  to  invent  a  weaving  machine.  He 
had  not,  at  that  time,  it  appears,  ever  seen  even  a 
common  loom.  But,  reasoning  upon  the  nature  of  the 


144  ADVANTAGE   OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE 

processes,  necessary  to  be  gone  through,  to  cross  the 
threads  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  a  piece  of  cloth,  he 
hit  upon  the  plan  of  a  loom,  and,  with  the  assistance 
of  a  carpenter  and  blacksmith,  he  made  one.  It  was 
a  very  rude  machine.  "The  warp,"  says  Mr.  Cart- 
wright,  "  was  laid  perpendicularly  ;  the  reed  fell  with  a 
force  of  at  least  half  a  hundred  weight,  and  the  springs, 
which  threw  the  shuttle,  were  strong  enough  to  throw 
a  Congreve  rocket."  Besides  this,  it  required  the 
strength  of  two  powerful  men  to  work  it,  and  that  at  a 
slow  rate,  and  for  a  short  time.  But  the  principle  was 
there.  Mr.  Cartwright  now  went  and  examined  the 
looms  of  common  form,  and  soon  succeeded  in  con- 
structing one,  very  nearly  resembling  the  power-looms 
which  are  now  in  use.  In  the  account  of  this  interest- 
ing invention,  which  I  am  quoting,*  it  is  said,  that 
"  Dr.  Cartwright's  children  still  remember  often  seeing 
their  father,  about  this  time,  walking  to  and  fro,  appa- 
rently in  deep  meditation,  and  occasionally  throwing 
his  arms  from  side  to  side ;  on  which  they  used  to  be 
told,  that  he  was  thinking  of  weaving  and  throwing  the 
shuttle."  Some  time  after  he  had  brought  his  first 
loom  to  perfection,  a  manufacturer,  who  had  called  up- 
on him  to  see  it  at  work,  after  expressing  his  admira- 
tion at  the  ingenuity  displayed  in  it,  remarked,  that, 
wonderful  as  Mr.  Cartwright's  mechanical  skill  was, 
there  was  one  thing  that  would  effectually  baffle  him, 
and  that  was,  the  weaving  of  patterns  in  checks,  or,  in 
other  words,  the  combining,  in  the  same  web,  of  a  pat- 
tern or  fancy  figure  with  the  crossing  colors  that  make 
the  check.  Mr.  Cartwright  made  no  reply  to  this  ob- 
servation, at  the  time ;  but,  some  weeks  after,  on  re- 
ceiving a  second  visit,  from  the  same  person,  he  had 
the  pleasure  of  showing  him  a  piece  of  muslin,  of  the 
description  mentioned,  beautifully  woven  by  machinery. 
The  man  was  so  much  astonished,  that  he  declared, 


*•  Pursuit  of  Knowledge  under  Difficulties,'  Vol.  II.,  page  285, 
in  the  larger  series  of  «  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY.' 


TO  WORKINGMEN.  145 

that  something  more  than  human  agency  must  have 
been  concerned  in  the  fabric.* 

The  wonderful  results  of  the  sagacity  and  perseve- 
rance of  Fulton,  in  carrying  into  effect  the  conceptions  of 
his  mind,  on  the  subject  of  steam  navigation,  still  more 
nobly  illustrate  the  creative  power  of  the  human  intel- 
lect ;  but  it  is  a  matter  too  familiar,  to  need  comment. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed,  from  the  instances 
I  have  chosen  to  show  the  amount  of  good  which  may 
be  done,  by  the  exercise  of  the  mental  powers,  that  it  is 
confined  to  the  material  comforts  of  life  ;  to  steam-boats, 
looms,  or  machinery  for  spinning.  Far  from  it.  The 
true  and  most  peculiar  province  of  its  efficacy  is,  the 
moral  condition.  Think  of  the  inestimable  good,  con- 
ferred on  all  succeeding  generations,  by  the  early  set- 
tlers of  America,  who  first  established  the  system  of 
public  schools,  where  instruction  should  be  furnished, 
gratis,  to  all  the  children  in  the  community.  No  such 
thing  was  before  known,  in  the  world.  There  were 
schools  and  colleges,  supported  by  funds,  which  had 
been  bequeathed  by  charitable  individuals  ;  and,  in  con- 
sequence, most  of  the  common  schools  of  this  kind,  in 
Europe,  were  regarded  as  establishments  for  the  poor. 
So  deep-rooted  is  this  idea,  that,  when  I  have  been  ap 
plied  to,  for  information,  as  to  our  public  schools,  from 
those  parts  of  the  United  States  where  no  such  system 
exists,  I  have  frequently  found  it  hard  to  obtain  credit, 
when  I  have  declared,  that  there  was  nothing  disrepu- 
table, in  the  public  opinion  here,  in  sending  children  to 
schools  supported  at  the  public  charge.  The  idea  of  free 
schools  for  the  whole  people,  when  it  first  crossed  the 
minds  of  our  forefathers,  was  entirely  original ;  but  how 
much  of  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  their  children 
and  posterity  has  flowed  from  this  living  spring  of  pub- 
lic intelligence !  The  same  may  be  said  of  Sunday 

*  The  power-loom  was  applied  to  the  weaving  of  cotton,  in  the  Uni- 
ted States,  in  1813,  by  Messrs.  F.  C.  Lowell  and  Patrick  T.  Jackson, 
aided  by  Mr.  Paul  Moody,  without  an  acquaintance  with  the  machin- 
ery applied  to  this  purpose,  in  England,  except  by  ger  ^ral  description. 
13  £.  E. 


146  ADVANTAGE  OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE 

schools,  which  have  proved  a  blessing  of  inestimable 
value,  in  Europe  and  America,  and  particularly  to  thou- 
sands who  are  deprived  of  the  advantages  of  other  in- 
stitutions. It  is  probable,  that  instruction  is  now  giv- 
en, in  the  Sunday  schools,  to  more  than  a  million  and  a 
half  of  pupils,  by  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand teachers.  This  plan  was  the  happy  suggestion 
of  an  humble  individual, — a  printer, — who  contempla- 
ted, at  first,  nothing  but  the  education  of  the  destitute 
and  friendless  children  in  his  immediate  neighborhood. 
After  laboring  in  this  noble  field  of  usefulness  for  twenty 
years,  and  among  the  class  of  population  most  exposed 
to  the  temptations  to  crime,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of 
being  able  to  say,  that,  out  of  three  thousand  schol- 
ars, he  had  heard  of  but  one,  who  had  been  sent  to 
jail,  as  a  criminal.*  Who  would  not  be  ashamed  to 
compare  the  pure  and  happy  renown  of  the  man,  that 
had  extended,  by  the  suggestion  of  this  simple  but  be- 
fore untried  plan  of  education,  the  blessings  of  instruc- 

*  See  a  very  interesting  address,  at  the  celebration  of  the  Sunday- 
school  jubilee,  or  the  fiftieth  year  from  the  institution  of  Sunday 
schools,  by  Robert  Raikes  :  delivered  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
September  14,  1831,  by  Thomas  Smith  Grimke.  I  find,  however,  the 
following  statement,  in  a  public  print,  of  the  accuracy  of  which  I 
have  no  means  of  judging  : 

"The  credit  of  originating  these  institutions  has  usually  been  given 
to  Mr.  Raikes,  a  newspaper  proprietor,  of  Gloucester,  who  died  some 
years  ago.  It  now  appears,  however,  from  statements  and  documents 
of  unquestionable  authenticity,  that  the  plan  of  the  first  school  of  this 
description,  which  was  established  in  Gloucester,  in  1780,  originated 
with  the  Rev.  Thomas  Stock,  head  master  of  the  cathedral  school  of 
th:U  city.  Mr.  Stock,  who  was  in  narrow  circumstances,  communica- 
ted the  details  of  his  plan  to  Mr.  Raikes,  when  the  latter  assisted  him 
with  his  purse  ;  and,  having  taken  a  very  active  and  zealous  part,  in 
promoting  the  establishment  of  Sunday  schools,  he  ultimately  obtained 
all  the  merit  of  being  their  founder.  Mr.  Raikes,  who  is  undoubtedly 
entitled  to  much  credit  for  his  benevolent  exertions  in  the  cause  of 
education,  lived  to  see  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  children  enrolled 
in  these  schools.  The  number  now  enjoying  the  benefit  of  instruction 
on  the  Sabbath,  in  England,  is  one  million  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand. At  Birmingham,  the  system  has  been  carried  to  a  much  greater 
extent,  than  in  any  other  town  in  England,  nearly  thirteen  thousand 
Sunday-school  pupils  having  been  mustered  there,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  late  jubilee." 


TO  WORKINGMEN.  147 

tion  to  a  million  and  a  half  of  his  fellow-creatures,  with 
the  false  and  unmerited  glory,  which  has  been  awarded 
to  conquerors,  whose  wars  have  hurried  their  millions 
of  victims  to  cruel  and  untimely  death  ! 

This  topic  might  be  illustrated,  perhaps,  still  more 
powerfully,  by  depicting  the  evils  which  flow  from  ig- 
norance. These  are  deplorable  enough,  in  the  case  of 
the  individual  ;  although,  if  he  live  surrounded  by  an 
intelligent  community,  the  disastrous  consequences  are 
limited.  But  the  general  ignorance  of  large  numbers 
and  entire  classes  of  men,  acting  under  the  unchastened 
stimulus  of  the  passions,  and  excited  by  the  various 
causes  of  discontent,  which  occur  in  the  progress  of 
human  affairs,  is  often  productive  of  scenes,  which  make 
humanity  shudder.  I  know  not,  that  I  could  produce 
a  more  pertinent  illustration  of  this  truth,  than  may  be 
found  in  the  following  extract  from  a  foreign  journal. 
It  relates  to  the  outrages,  committed  by  the  peasantry, 
in  a  part  of  Hungary,  in  consequence  of  the  ravages  of 
the  cholera,  in  that  region. 

"  The  suspicion,  that  the  cholera  was  caused  by  poi- 
soning the  wells,  was  universal  among  the  peasantry  of 
the  counties  of  Zips  and  Zemplin,  and  every  one  was 
fully  convinced  of  its  truth.  The  first  commotion  arose 
in  Klucknow,  where,  it  is  said,  some  peasants  died,  in 
consequence  of  taking  the  preservatives  ;  whether  by  an 
immoderate  use  of  medicine,  or  whether  they  thought 
they  were  to  take  chloride  of  lime  internally,  is  not 
known.  This  story,  with  a  sudden  and  violent  break- 
ing out  of  cholera,  at  Klucknow,  led  the  peasants  to  a 
notion  of  the  poisoning  of  the  wells,  which  spread  like 
lightning.  In  the  sequel,  upon  the  attack  of  the  estate 
of  Count  Czaki,  a  servant  of  the  chief  bailiff  was  on  the 
point  of  being  murdered,  when,  to  save  his  life,  he  of- 
fered to  disclose  something  important.  He  said,  that 
he  received  from  his  master  two  pounds  of  poisonous 
powder,  with  orders  to  throw  it  into  the  wells,  and,  with 
an  axe  over  his  head,  took  oath  publicly,  in  the  church, 
to  the  truth  of  his  statement.  These  circumstances,  and 


148  ADVANTAGE  OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE 

the  fact,  that  the  peasants,  when  they  forcibly  entered 
the  houses  of  the  land-owners,  every  where  found  chlo- 
ride of  lime,  which  they  took  for  the  poisonous  powder, 
confirmed  their  .suspicions,  and  drove  the  people  to 
madness.  In  this  state  of  excitement,  they  committed 
the  most  appalling  excesses.  Thus,  for  instance,  when 
a  detachment  of  thirty  soldiers,  headed  by  an  ensign, 
attempted  to  restore  order  in  Klucknow,  the  peasants, 
who  were  ten  times  their  number,  fell  upon  them ;  the 
soldiers  were  released,  but  the  ensign  was  bound,  tor- 
tured with  scissors  and  knives,  then  beheaded,  and  his 
head  fixed  on  a  pike,  as  a  trophy.  A  civil  officer,  in 
company  with  the  military,  was  drowned,  his  carriage 
broken,  and  chloride  of  lime  being  found  in  the  car- 
riage, one  of  the  inmates  was  compelled  to  eat  it,  till 
he  vomited  blood,  which  again  confirmed  the  notion 
of  poison.  On  the  attack  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  at 
Klucknow,  the  Countess  saved  her  life  by  piteous  en- 
treaties ;  but  the  chief  bailiff,  in  whose  house  chloride 
of  lime  was  unhappily  found,  was  killed,  together  writh 
his  son,  a  little  daughter,  a  clerk,  a  maid,  and  two 
students,  who  boarded  with  him.  So  the  bands  went 
from  village  to  village ;  wherever  a  nobleman  or  a  phy- 
sician was  found,  death  was  his  lot ;  and,  in  a  short 
time,  it  was  known,  that  the  high  constable  of  the 
county  of  Zemplin,  several  counts,  nobles,  and  parish 
priests,  had  been  murdered.  A  clergyman  was  hanged, 
because  he  refused  to  take  an  oath  that  he  had  thrown 
poison  into  the  well ;  the  eyes  of  a  countess  were  put 
out,  and  innocent  children  cut  to  pieces.  Count  Czaki, 
having  first  ascertained  that  his  family  was  safe,  fled 
from  his  estate,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  but  was  stopped 
at  Kirchtrauf,  pelted  with  stones,  and  wounded  all  over, 
torn  from  his  horse,  and  only  saved  by  a  worthy  mer- 
chant, who  fell  on  him,  crying,  '  Now  I  have  got  the 
rascal.'  He  drew  the  Count  into  a  neighboring  con- 
vent, where  his  wounds  were  dressed,  and  a  refuge  af- 
forded him.  His  secretary  was  struck  from  his  horse 
witlym  axe,  but  saved,  in  a  similar  manner,  and  in  the 


TO  WORKINGMEN.  149 

evening  conveyed  with  his  master  to  Leutschau.  But 
enough  of  these  horrible  scenes." 

It  is  by  no  means  my  purpose,  on  this  occasion,  to 
attempt  even  a  sketch  of  what  the  judicious  exercise 
of  the  intelligent  principle  has  enabled  men  to  do,  for 
the  improvement  of  their  fellow-men.  Enough,  I  ven- 
ture to  hope,  has  been  said,  to  put  all,  who  favor  me 
with  their  attention,  upon  the  reflection,  that  it  is  only 
by  its  improvement,  that  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  ren- 
der himself  useful  to  man  ;  and,  consequently,  that  it  is 
in  this  way,  alone,  that  he  can  taste  the  highest  and 
purest  pleasure  which  our  natures  can  enjoy,  that  which 
proceeds  from  the  consciousness  of  having  been  useful 
to  others. 

But  it  is  time,  that  I  should  make  a  few  remarks,  on 
another  subject,  which  would  seem  appropriately  to  be- 
long to  this  occasion. 

An  idea,  I  fear,  prevails,  that  truths,  such  as  I  have 
now  attempted  to  illustrate,  are  obvious  enough,  in 
themselves,  but  that  they  apply  only  to  men  of  literary 
education,  to  professional  characters,  and  persons  of 
fortune  and  leisure  ;  and  that  it  is  out  of  the  power  of 
the  other  classes  of  society,  and  those  who  pass  most 
of  their  time  in  manual  labor  and  mechanical  industry, 
to  engage  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  with  any  hope 
of  being  useful  to  themselves  and  others. 

This,  I  believe  to  be  a  great  error.  I  trust  we  may 
regard  the  meeting  of  this  numerous  audience,  as  a  sat- 
isfactory proof  that  you  consider  it  an  error ;  and  that 
you  are  persuaded  that  it  is  in  your  power,  to  enjoy 
the  pleasures  and  the  benefits  which  flow  from  the  pur- 
suit of  useful  knowledge. 

What  is  it,  that  we  wish  to  improve  ?  The  mind. 
Is  this  a  thing  monopolized  by  any  class  of  society  ? 
God  forbid :  it  is  the  heritage  with  which  he  has  en- 
dowed all  the  children  of  the  great  family  of  man.  Is 
it  a  treasure  belonging  to  the  wealthy  ?  It  is  talent 
bestowed,  alike,  on  rich  and  poor  ;  high  and  low.  But 
this  is  not  all ;  mind  is,  in  all  men,  and  in  every  man, 
13* 


150  ADVANTAGE  OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE 

the  same  active,  living,  and  creative,  principle  ;  it  is  the 
man  himself.  One  of  the  renowned  philosophers  of 
heathen  antiquity  beautifully  said,  of  the  intellectual 
faculties,  I  call  them  not  mine,  but  me.  It  is  these, 
which  make  the  man ;  which  are  the  man.  I  do  not 
say,  that  opportunities,  that  wealth,  leisure,  and  great 
advantages  for  education,  are  nothing ;  but  I  do  say, 
they  are  much  less,  than  is  commonly  supposed  ;  I  do 
say,  as  a  general  rule,  that  the  amount  of  useful  knowl- 
edge which  men  acquire,  and  the  good  they  do  with  it, 
are,  by  no  means,  in  direct  proportion  to  the  degrees  to 
which  they  have  enjoyed  what  are  commonly  called  the 
great  advantages  of  life.  Wisdom  does  sometimes,  but 
not  most  commonly,  feed  her  children  with  a  silver 
spoon.  I  believe  it  is  perfectly  correct,  to  say  that  a 
small  proportion,  only,  of  those  who  have  been  most 
distinguished  for  the  improvement  of  their  rninds,  have 
enjoyed  the  best  advantages  for  education.  I  do  not 
mean  to  detract,  in  the  least,  from  the  advantages 
of  the  various  seminaries  for  learning,  which  public 
and  private  liberality  has  founded,  in  our  Country. 
They  serve  as  places,  where  a  large  number  of  persons 
are  prepared  for  their  employment,  in  the  various  occu- 
pations which  the  public  service  requires.  But,  I  re- 
peat it,  of  the  great  benefactors  of  our  race ;  the  men, 
who,  by  wonderful  inventions,  remarkable  discoveries, 
and  extraordinary  improvements,  have  conferred  the 
most  eminent  service  on  their  fellow-men,  and  gained 
the  highest  names  in  history ;  by  far  the  greater  part 
have  been  men  of  humble  origin,  narrow  fortunes,  small 
advantages,  and  self-taught. 

And  this  springs  from  the  nature  of  the  mind  of  man, 
which  is  not,  like  a  vessel,  to  be  filled  up  from  without ; 
into  which,  you  may  pour  a  little,  or  pour  much  ;  and 
then  measure,  as  with  a  gauge,  the  degrees  of  knowl- 
edge imparted.  The  knowledge,  that  can  be  so  im- 
parted, is  the  least  valuable  kind  of  knowledge ;  and  the 
man,  who  has  nothing  but  this,  may  be  very  learned, 
but  cannot  be  very  wise.  We  do  not  invite  you  to 


TO  WORKINGMEN.  151 

these  lectures,  as  if  their  object  would  be  attained,  when 
you  have  heard  the  weekly  address.  It  is  to  kindle  the 
understanding  to  the  consciousness  of  its  own  powers ; 
to  make  it  feel  within  itself,  that  it  is  a  living,  spiritual 
thing  ;  to  feed  it,  in  order  that  it  may  itself  begin  to  act 
and  operate,  to  compare,  contrive,  invent,  improve,  and 
perfect.  This  is  our  object ; — an  object,  as  much  with- 
in the  reach  of  every  man  who  hears  me,  as  if  he  had 
taken  a  degree  in  the  best  college  in  Christendom. 

In  this  great  respect,  the  most  important  that  touch- 
es human  condition,  we  are  all  equal.  It  is  not  more 
true,  that  all  men  possess  the  same  natural  senses  and 
organs,  than  that  their  minds  are  endowed  with  the 
same  capacities  for  improvement,  though  not,  perhaps, 
all  in  the  same  degree.  The  condition  in  which  they 
are  placed  is  certainly  not  a  matter  of  entire  indiffer- 
ence. The  child  of  a  savage,  born  in  the  bosom  of  a 
barbarous  tribe,  is,  of  course,  shut  out  from  all  chance 
of  sharing  the  improvements  of  civilized  communities. 
So,  in  a  community,  like  our  own,  an  infant,  condemned 
by  adverse  circumstances  to  a  life  of  common  street 
beggary,  must  be  considered  as  wholly  out  of  the  reach 
of  all  improving  influences.  But  Shakspeare,  whose 
productions  have  been  the  wonder  and  delight  of  all 
who  speak  the  English  language,  for  two  hundred  years, 
was  a  runaway  youth,  the  son  of  a  woolcomber,  who 
obtained  his  living  in  London,  by  holding  horses  at  the 
door  of  the  theatre,  for  those  who  went  to  the  play ; 
and  Sir  Richard  Arkwright,*  who  invented  the  machin- 
ery for  spinning  cotton,  of  which  I  have  already  spoken, 
was  the  youngest  of  thirteen  children  of  a  poor  peas- 
ant, and,  till  he  was  thirty  years  of  age,  followed  the 
business  of  a  travelling  barber. 

As  men  bring  into  the  world  with  them  an  equal  in- 
tellectual endowment ;  that  is,  minds  equally  suscepti- 
ble of  improvement ;  so,  in  a  community,  like  that  in 
which  we  have  the  happiness  to  live,  the  means  of  im- 

*  S5ee  note  on  page  77. 


152  ADVANTAGE  OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE 

provement  are  much  more  equally  enjoyed,  than  might, 
at  first,  be  supposed.  Whoever  has  learned  to  read, 
possesses  the  keys  of  knowledge ;  and  can,  whenever 
he  pleases,  not  only  unlock  the  portals  of  her  temple, 
but  penetrate  to  the  inmost  halls  and  most  secret  cabi- 
nets. A  few  dollars,  the  surplus  of  the  earnings  of  the 
humblest  industry,  are  sufficient  to  purchase  the  use  of 
books,  which  contain  the  elements  of  the  whole  circle 
of  useful  knowledge. 

It  may  be  thought  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
community  want  time  to  attend  to  the  cultivation  of 
their  minds.  But  it  is  only  necessary  to  make  the  ex- 
periment, to  find  two  things ;  one,  how  much  useful 
knowledge  can  be  acquired  in  a  very  little  time ;  and 
the  other,  how  much  time  can  be  spared,  by  good  man- 
agement, out  of  the  busiest  day.  Generally  speaking, 
our  duties  leave  us  time  enough,  if  our  passions  would 
but  spare  us ;  our  labors  are  much  less  urgent,  in  their 
calls  upon  us,  than  our  indolence  and  our  pleasures. 
There  are  very  few  pursuits  in  life,  whose  duties  are  so 
incessant,  that  they  do  not  leave  a  little  time,  every  day, 
to  a  man  whose  temperate  and  regular  habits  allow  him 
the  comfort  of  a  clear  head  and  a  cheerful  temper,  in 
the  intervals  of  occupation ;  and  then  there  is  one  day 
in  seven,  which  is  redeemed  to  us,  by  our  blessed  reli- 
gion, from  the  calls  of  life,  and  affords  us  all  time 
enough,  for  the  improvement  of  our  rational  and  im- 
mortal natures. 

It  is  a  prevalent  mistake,  to  suppose  that  any  class 
of  men  have  much  time  to  spend,  or  do  spend  much 
time,  in  mere  contemplation  and  study.  A  small  num- 
ber of  literary  men  may  do  this  ;  but  the  great  majority 
of  professional  men, — lawyers,  doctors,  and  ministers, 
men  in  public  station,  rich  capitalists,  merchants, — men, 
in  short,  who  are  supposed  to  possess  eminent  advan- 
tages, and  ample  leisure  to  cultivate  their  minds,  are 
very  much  occupied  with  the  duties  of  life,  and  con- 
stantly and  actively  employed  in  pursuits,  very  uncon- 
genial to  the  cultivation  of  the  mind  and  the  attainment 


TO  WORKWOMEN.  153 

ot  useful  knowledge.  Take  the  case  of  an  eminent 
lawyer,  in  full  practice.  He  passes  his  days  in  his  of- 
fice, giving  advice  to  clients,  often  about  the  most  un- 
interesting and  paltry  details  of  private  business,  or  in 
arguing  over  the  same  kind  of  business,  in  court ;  and, 
when  it  comes  night,  and  he  gets  home,  tired  and  har 
assed,  instead  of  sitting  down  to  rest  or  to  read,  he  has 
to  study  out  another  perplexed  cause,  for  the  next  day  ; 
or  go  before  referees ;  or  attend  a  political  meeting,  and 
make  a  speech ;  while  every  moment,  which  can  be  re- 
garded, in  any  degree,  as  leisure  time,  is  consumed  by 
a  burdensome  correspondence.  Besides  this,  he  has 
his  family  to  take  care  of.  It  is  plain,  that  he  has  no 
more  leisure  for  the  free  and  improving  cultivation  of 
his  mind,  independent  of  his  immediate  profession,  than 
if  he  had  been  employed,  the  same  number  of  hours,  in 
mechanical  or  manual  labor.  One  of  the  most  common 
complaints  of  professional  men,  in  all  the  professions, 
is,  that  they  have  no  time  to  read  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt 
there  are  many  such,  of  very  respectable  standing,  who 
do  not,  in  any  branch  of  knowledge,  not  connected 
with  their  immediate  professions,  read  the  amount  of 
an  octavo  volume  in  the  course  of  a  season. 

There  is,  also,  a  time  of  leisure,  which  Providence, 
in  this  climate,  has  secured  to  almost  every  man,  who 
has  any  thing  which  can  be  called  a  home ;  I  mean, 
our  long  Winter  evenings.  This  season  seems  provid- 
ed, as  if  expressly,  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  those 
who  labor,  with  ample  opportunity  for  the  improvement 
of  their  minds.  The  severity  of  the  weather,  and  the 
"shortness  of  the  days,  necessarily  limit  the  portion  of 
time  whicli  is  devoted  to  industry,  out  of  doors ;  and 
there  is  little  to  tempt  us  abroad,  in  search  of  amusement. 
Every  thing  seems  to  invite  us  to  employ  an  hour  or 
two,  of  this  calm  and  quiet  season,  in  the  acquisition 
of  useful  knowledge  and  the  cultivation  of  the  mind. 
The  noise  of  life  is  hushed ;  the  pavement  ceases  to 
resound  with  the  din  of  laden  wheels,  and  the  tread  of 
busy  men ;  the  glaring  sun  has  gone  down,  and  the 


154  ADVANTAGE  OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE 

moon  and  the  stars  are  left  to  watch,  in  the  heavens, 
over  the  slumbers  of  the  peaceful  creation.  The  mind 
of  man  should  keep  its  vigils  with  them;  and,  while 
his  body  is  reposing  from  the  labors  of  the  day,  and  his 
feelings  are  at  rest  from  its  excitements,  he  should  seek, 
in  some  amusing  and  instructive  page,  a  substantial 
food  for  the  generous  appetite  for  knowledge. 

If  we  needed  any  encouragement,  to  make  these  ef- 
forts to  improve  our  minds,  we  might  find  it,  in  every 
page  of  our  Country's  history.  Nowhere  do  we  meet 
with  examples,  more  numerous  and  more  brilliant,  of 
men  who  have  risen  above  poverty,  and  obscurity,  and 
every  disadvantage,  to  usefulness  and  an  honorable 
name.  Our  whole  vast  continent  was  added  to  the 
geography  of  the  world,  by  the  persevering  efforts  of 
an  humble  mariner,  the  great  Columbus,  who,  by  the 
steady  pursuit  of  the  enlightened  conception  which  he 
had  formed,  of  the  figure  of  the  earth,  before  any  navi- 
gator had  acted  upon  the  belief  that  it  was  round,  dis- 
covered the  American  continent.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
Genoese  pilot;  a  pilot  and  seaman,  himself ;  and,  at 
one  period  of  his  melancholy  career,  was  reduced  to 
beg  his  bread,  at  the  doors  of  the  convents,  in  Spain. 
But  he  carried  within  himself,  and  beneath  an  humble 
exterior,  a  spirit,  for  which  there  was  not  room  in  Spain, 
in  Europe,  nor  in  the  then  known  world ;  and  which 
led  him  on  to  a  height  of  usefulness  and  fame,  beyond 
that  of  all  the  monarchs  that  ever  reigned. 

The  story  of  our  Franklin  cannot  be  repeated  too 
often ; — the  poor  Boston  boy ;  the  son  of  an  humble 
tradesman ;  brought  up  a  mechanic,  himself ;  a  stranger 
at  colleges,  till  they  showered  their  degrees  upon  him ; 
who  rendered  his  Country  the  most  important  services, 
in  establishing  her  Independence  ;  enlarged  the  bounds 
of  philosophy,  by  a  new  department  of  science ;  and 
lived  to  be  pronounced,  by  Lord  Chatham,  in  the  Brit- 
ish House  of  Peers,  an  honor  to  Europe  and  the  age 
in  which  he  lived. 

Why  should  I  speak  of  Greene,  who  left  his  black- 


TO  WORK1NGMEN.  155 

smith's  furnace,  to  command  an  army  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War ;  the  chosen  friend  of  Washington,  and, 
next  to  him,  perhaps,  the  military  leader,  who  stood 
highest  in  the  confidence  of  his  Country  ? 

West,  the  famous  painter,  was  the  son  of  a  Quaker, 
in  Pennsylvania ;  he  was  too  poor,  at  the  beginning  of 
his  career,  to  purchase  canvass  and  colors  ;  and  lie  rose, 
eventually,  to  be  the  first  artist  in  Europe,  and  President 
of  the  Royal  Academy,  at  London.  Count  Rumford 
was  the  son  of  a  farmer,  at  Woburn  :  he  never  had  the 
advantage  of  a  college  education,  but  used  to  walk  down 
to  Cambridge,  to  hear  the  lectures  on  natural  philoso- 
phy. He  became  one  of  the  most  eminent  philosophers 
in  Europe ;  founded  the  Royal  Institution,  in  London, 
and  had  the  merit  of  bringing  forward  Sir  Humphrey 
Davy,  as  the  lecturer  on  chemistry,  in  that  establish- 
ment. Robert  Fulton  was  a  portrait  painter,  in  Penn- 
sylvania, without  friends  or  fortune.  By  his  successful 
labors,  in  perfecting  steam-navigation,  he  has  made 
himself  one  of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  man.  WThit- 
ney,  the  son  of  a  Massachusetts  farmer,  was  a  machin- 
ist. His  cotton-gin,  according  to  Judge  Johnson,  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  has  trebled 
the  value  of  all  the  cotton  lands  at  the  South,  and  has 
had  an  incalculable  influence  on  the  agricultural  and 
mechanical  industry  of  the  world.  Whittemore,  of 
West  Cambridge,  the  person  who  invented  the  machin- 
ery for  the  manufacture  of  cards,  possessed  no  other 
means  of  improvement,  than  those  which  are  within 
the  reach  of  every  temperate  and  industrious  man. 
Several,  in  this  audience,  were  probably  acquainted 
with  the  modest  and  sterling  merit  of  the  late  Paul 
Moody.  To  ^he  efforts  of  his  self-taught  mind,  the 
early  prosperity  of  the  great  manufacturing  establish- 
ments, at  Waltham  and  Lowell,  is,  in  no  small  degree, 
•owing.  I  believe  I  may  say,  with  truth,  that  not  one 
of  these  individuals  enjoyed,  at  the  outset,  opportuni- 
ties for  acquiring  useful  knowledge,  superior  to  those 
in  the  reach  of  every  one  who  hears  me. 


156  ADVANTAGE  Or  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE 

These  are  all  departed ;  but  we  have,  living  among 
us,  illustrious  instances  of  men,  who,  without  early  ad- 
vantages, but  by  the  resolute  improvement  of  the  few 
opportunities  thrown  in  their  way,  have  rendered  them- 
selves, in  like  manner,  useful  to  their  fellow-men  ;  the 
objects  of  admiration,  to  those  who  witness  their  attain- 
ments, and  of  gratitude,  to  those  who  reap  the  fruit  of 
their  labors. 

On  a  late  visit  to  New  Haven,  I  saw  exhibited  a  most 
beautiful  work  of  art ;  two  figures,  in  marble,  represent- 
ing the  affecting  scene  of  the  meeting  of  Jephthah  and 
his  daughter,  as  described  in  the  Bible.  The  daughter, 
a  lovely  young  woman,  is  represented  as  going  forth, 
with  the  timbrel  in  her  hand,  to  meet  Ijer  father,  as  he 
returns  in  triumph,  from  the  wars.  Her  father  had 
rashly  vowed  to  sacrifice  to  the  Lord  the  first  living 
thing  which  he  should  meet,  on  his  return  ;  and,  as  his 
daughter  runs  forth  to  embrace  him,  he  rends  his  gar- 
ments, and  turns  his  head  in  agony,  at  the  thought  of 
his  vow.  The  young  maiden  pauses,  astonished  and 
troubled  at  the  strange  reception.  This  pathetic  scene 
is  beautifully  represented,  in  two  marble  figures,  of 
most  exquisite  taste,  finished  in  a  style,  which  would  do 
credit  to  a  master  in  the  art.  They  are  the  work  of  a 
self-taught  artist,  Mr.  Augur,  of  New  Haven,  who  began 
life,  I  have  been  informed,  as  a  retailer  of  liquors.  This 
business  he  was  obliged  to  give  up,  under  a  heavy  load 
of  debt.  He  then  turned  his  attention  to  carving  in 
wood ;  and,  by  his  skill  and  thrift,  in  that  pursuit,  suc- 
ceeded in  paying  off  the  debts  of  his  former  establish- 
ment, to  the  amount  of  several  thousand  dollars.  Thus 
honorably  placed  at  liberty,  he  has  since  devoted  him- 
self to  the  profession  of  a  sculptor,  and,  without  educa- 
tion, without  funds,  without  instruction,  he  has  risen,  at 
once,  to  extraordinary  proficiency  in  this  difficult  and 
beautiful  art,  and  bids  fair  to  enrol  his  name  among  the 
distinguished  sculptors  of  the  day.* 

I  scarce  know  if  I  may  venture  to  adduce  an  instance, 

*  See  New-England  Magazine,  Vol.  I.,  page  413. 


TO  WORKINGMEN.  157 

nearer  home,  of  the  most  praiseworthy  and  successful 
cultivation  of  useful  knowledge,  on  the  part  of  an  indi- 
vidual, without  education,  busily  employed  in  mechani- 
cal industry.  I  have  the  pleasure  to  be  acquainted,  in 
one  of  the  neighboring  towns,  with  a  person,  who  was 
brought  up  to  the  trade  of  a  leatherdresser,  and  has  all 
his  life  worked,  and  still  works,  at  this  business.*  He 
has  devoted  his  leisure  hours,  and  a  portion  of  his  hon- 
orable earnings,  to  the  cultivation  of  useful  and  elegant 
learning.  Under  the  same  roof,  which  covers  his  store 
and  workshop,  he  has  the  most  excellent  library  of 
English  books,  for  its  size,  with  which  I  am  acquaint- 
ed. The  books  have  been  selected  with  a  good  judge- 
ment, which  would  do  credit  to  the  most  accomplished 
scholar,  and  have  been  imported  from  England,  by  him- 
self. What  is  more  important  than  having  the  books, 
their  proprietor  is  well  acquainted  with  their  contents. 
Among  them,  are  several  volumes  of  the  most  costly  and 
magnificent  engravings.  Connected  with  his  library,  is 
an  exceedingly  interesting  series  of  paintings,  in  water- 
colors,  which  a  fortunate  accident  placed  in  his  posses- 
sion, and  several  valuable  pictures,  purchased  by  him- 
self. The  whole  forms  a  treasure  of  taste  and  knowl- 
edge, not  surpassed,  if  equalled,  by  any  thing  of  its  kind 
in  the  Country. 

I  should  leave  this  part  of  my  address,  too  unjustly 
defective,  did  I  not  add,  that  we  possess,  within  our 
own  city,  an  instance  of  merit,  as  eminent  as  it  is  unob- 
trusive, in  the  person  of  one,  who  has  raised  himself, 
from  the  humblest  walks  of  life,  to  the  highest  scientific 
reputation.  Little,  perhaps,  is  it  known  to  the  intelli 
gent  mariner,  who  resorts  to  his  Practical  Navigator, 
for  the  calculations  with  which  he  finds  his  longitude 
in  mid-ocean,  that  many  of  them  are  the  original  work 
of  one  who  started  at  the  same  low  point  in  life  with 
himself.  Still  less  is  it  known  to  him,  that  this  was 
but  the  commencement  of  a  series  of  scientific  produc- 

*  Mr.  Thomas  Dowse,  of  Cambridgeport. 

14  E.  E. 


158  ADVANTAGE  OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE 

tions,  which  have  placed  their  author  upon  an  equality 
with  the  most  distinguished  philosophers  of  Europe, 
and  inscribed  the  name  of  Bowditch  with  those  of 
Newton  and  La  Place,  upon  that  list  of  great  minds, 
to  which  scarcely  one  is  added  in  a  century.* 

But  why  should  I  dwell  on  particular  instances  ? 
Our  whole  Country  is  a  great  and  speaking  illustration 
of  what  may  be  done  by  native  force  of  mind,  unedu- 
cated, without  advantages,  but  starting  up,  under  strong 
excitement,  into  new  and  successful  action.  The 
statesmen,  who  conducted  the  Revolution  to  its  honor- 
able issue,  were  called,  without  experience,  to  the  head 
of  affairs.  The  generals,  who  commanded  our  armies, 
were  most  of  them  taken,  like  Cincinnatus,  from  the 
plough  ;  and  the  forces,  which  they  led,  were  gath- 
ered from  the  firesides  of  an  orderly  and  peaceful  pop- 
ulation. They  were  arrayed  against  all  the  experience, 
talent,  and  resource,  of  the  elder  world ;  and  came  oft' 
victorious.  They  have  handed  down  to  us  a  country, 
a  constitution,  and  a  national  career,  affording  bound- 
less scope  to  every  citizen,  and  calling  every  individual 
to  do,  for  himself,  what  our  fathers  unitedly  did  for  us 
all.  What  man  can  start  in  life,  with  so  few  advantages, 
as  those  with  which  our  Country  started,  in  the  race  of  in- 
dependence ?  Over  whose  private  prospects,  can  there 
hang  a  cloud,  as  dark  as  that  which  brooded  over  the 
cause  of  America  ?  Who  can  have  less  to  encourage, 
and  more  to  appal  and  dishearten,  him,  than  the  sages 
and  chieftains  of  the  Revolution?  Let  us,  then,  en- 
deavor to  follow  in  their  steps  ;  and  each,  according  to 
his  means  and  ability,  try  to  imitate  their  glorious  ex- 
ample ;  despising  difficulties,  grasping  at  opportunities, 
and  steadily  pursuing  some  honest  and  manly  aim. 
We  shall  soon  find  that  the  obstacles,  which  oppose 
our  progress,  sink  into  the  dust,  before  a  firm  and  reso- 
lute step  ;  and  that  the  pleasures  and  benefits  of  knowl- 
edge are  within  the  reach  of  all  who  seek  it. 

*  Nathaniel  Bowditch,  LL.  D.,  died  in  Boston,  March  16,    1838, 
aged  sixty-five. 


TO  XVORKINGMEN.  159 

There  are  a  few  considerations,  which  I  beg  leave, 
more  particularly,  to  address  to  the  younger  part  of  the 
audience,  and  which  seem  to  call  on  them,  peculiarly, 
with  a  loud  voice,  to  exert  themselves,  according  to 
their  opportunities,  to  store  their  minds  with  useful 
knowledge. 

The  world  is  advanced  to  a  high  point  of  attainment 
in  science  and  art.  The  progress  of  invention  and 
improvement  has  been,  especially  of  late  years,  prodig- 
iously rapid ;  and  now,  whether  we  regard  the  science 
of  Nature  or  of  art,  of  mind  or  of  morals,  of  contem- 
plation or  of  practice,  it  must  be  confessed  that  we  live 
in  a  wonderfully-improved  period. 

Where  is  all  this  knowledge  ?  where  does  it  dwell  .' 
In  the  minds  of  the  present  generation  of  men.  It  is, 
indeed,  recorded  in  books,  or  embodied  in  the  various 
works  and  structures  of  man.  But  these  are  only  the 
manifestations  of  knowledge.  The  books  are  nothing, 
till  they  are  read  and  understood ;  and  then,  they  are 
only  a  sort  of  shorthand,  an  outline,  which  the  mind 
fills  up.  The  thing  itself,  the  science,  the  art,  the 
skill,  are  in  the  minds  of  living  men, — of  that  genera- 
tion which  is  now  upon  the  stage. 

That  generation  will  die  and  pass  away.  This  houi, 
which  we  have  spent  together,  has  been  the  last  hour 
to  many  thousands  throughout  the  world.  About  three 
thousand  of  our  race  have  died,  since  I  began  my  lec- 
ture. Among  them,  of  course,  is  a  fair  proportion  of 
all  the  learned  and  the  wise,  in  all  the  nations.  In 
thirty  years,  all,  now  in  active  life,  will  be  gone,  or  re- 
tired from  the  scene,  and  a  new  generation  will  have 
succeeded. 

This  mighty  process  does  not  take  place,  at  once, 
either  throughout  the  world,  or  in  any  part  of  it ;  but  it 
is  constantly  going  on, — silently,  effectually,  inevitably  ; 
and  all  the  knowledge,  art,  and  refinement,  now  in  ex- 
istence, must  be  either  acquired  by  those  who  are  com- 
ing on  the  stage,  or  perish,  with  those  who  are  going 
off,  and  be  lost  forever.  There  is  no  way,  by  which 


160  ADVANTAGE  OF  USEFUL  KNOWLEDGE 

knowledge  can  be  handed  down,  but  by  being  learned 
over  again  ;  and  of  all  the  science,  art,  and  skill,  in  the 
world,  so  much  only  will  survive,  when  those  who  pos- 
sess it  are  gone,  as  shall  be  acquired  by  the  succeeding 
generation. 

The  rising  generation  is  now  called  upon  to  take  up 
this  mighty  weight ;  to  carry  it  along,  a  little  way  ;  and 
then  hand  it  over,  in  turn,  to  their  successors. 

The  minds,  which,  in  their  maturity,  are  to  be  the 
depositories  of  all  this  knowledge,  are  coming  into  ex- 
istence, every  day  and  every  hour,  in  every  rank  and 
station  of  life  ;  all  equally  endowed  with  faculties ;  all, 
at  the  commencement,  equally  destitute  of  ideas ;  all 
starting  with  the  ignorance  and  helplessness  of  nature  ; 
all  invited  to  run  the  noble  race  of  improvement.  In 
the  cradle,  there  is  as  little  distinction  of  persons,  as  in 
the  grave. 

The  great  lesson,  which  I  would  teach  you,  is, — that 
it  depends,  mainly,  on  each  individual,  what  part  he 
will  bear,  in  the  accomplishment  of  this  great  work.  It 
is  to  be  done  by  somebody.  In  a  quiet  order  of  things, 
the  stock  of  useful  knowledge  is  not  only  preserved, 
but  augmented  ;  and  each  generation  improves  on  that 
which  went  before.  It  is  true,  there  have  been  periods, 
in  the  history  of  the  world,  when  tyranny  at  home,  or 
invasion  from  abroad,  has  so  blighted  and  blasted  the 
condition  of  society,  that  knowledge  has  perished  with 
one  generation,  faster  than  it  could  be  learned  by  anoth- 
er; and  whole  nations  have  sunk,  from  a  condition  of 
improvement,  to  one  of  ignorance  and  barbarity,  some- 
times in  a  very  few  years.  But  no  such  dreadful  ca- 
tastrophe is  now  to  be  feared.  Those  who  come  after 
us,  will  not  only  equal,  but  surpass  their  predecessors. 
The  existing  arts  will  be  improved,  science  will  be  car- 
ried to  new  heights,  and  the  great  heritage  of  useful 
knowledge  will  go  down  unimpaired  and  augmented. 

But  it  is  all  to  be  shared  out,  anew ;  and  it  is  for 
each  man  to  say,  what  part  he  will  gain,  in  the  glorious 
patrimony. 


TO  WORKINGMEN.  161 

When  the  rich  man  is  called  from  the  possession  of 
his  treasures,  he  divides  them,  as  he  will,  among  his 
children  and  heirs.  But  an  equal  Providence  deals  not 
so,  with  the  living  treasures  of  the  mind.  There  are 
children,  just  growing  up  in  the  bosom  of  obscurity,  in 
town  and  in  country,  who  have  inherited  nothing  but 
poverty  and  health,  who  will,  in  a  few  years,  be  striving 
in  stern  contention  with  the  great  intellects  of  the  land. . 
Our  system  of  free  schools  has  opened  a  straight  way 
from  the  threshold  of  every  abode,  however  humble, 
in  the  village,  or  in  the  city,  to  the  high  places  of  use- 
fulness, influence,  and  honor.  And  it  is  left  for  each, 
by  the  cultivation  of  every  talent ;  by  watching,  with 
an  eagle's  eye,  for  every  chance  of  improvement ;  by 
bounding  forward,  like  a  greyhound,  at  the  most  dis- 
tant glimpse  of  honorable  opportunity ;  by  grappling, 
as  with  hooks  of  steel,  to  the  prize,  when  it  is  won  ;  by 
redeeming  time,  defying  temptation,  and  scorning  sen- 
sual pleasure;  to  make  himself  useful,  honored,  and 
happy. 


162  EDUCATION  IN  THE  WEST. 

EDUCATION  IN  THE  WEST.* 

THE  lucid  exposition,  which  has  been  made  of  the 
object  of  the  meeting,  by  the  Right  Reverend  Bishop, 
(Mcllvaine,)  lightens  the  task  of  recommending  it  to  an 
audience  like  this.  I  do  not  know  but  I  should  act  more 
advisedly,  to  leave  his  cogent  and  persuasive  statement, 
to  produce  its  natural  effect,  without  any  attempt,  on  my 
part,  to  enforce  it.  But,  as  we  have  assembled  to  com- 
municate our  mutual  impressions,  on  the  subject ;  to 
consult  with  each  other,  whether  we  can  do  any  thing, 
and  whether  we  will  do  any  thing,  to  promote  the  ob- 
ject in  view,  (which,  I  own,  seems  to  me  one  of  high 
moment,)  I  will,  with  the  indulgence  of  the  meeting, 
and  at  the  request  of  those  by  whom  it  is  called,  briefly 
state  the  aspect,  in  which  the  matter  presents  itself  to 
my  mind. 

I  understand  the  object  of  the  meeting,  to  be,  to  aid 
the  funds  of  a  rising  seminary  of  learning,  in  the  inte- 
rior of  the  State  of  Ohio,  particularly  with  a  view  to 
the  training  up  of  a  well-educated  ministry  of  the  gos- 
pel, in  that  part  of  the  United  States ;  and  the  claims 
of  such  an  object  on  this  community. 

As  to  the  general  question,  of  the  establishment  and 
support  of  places  of  education,  there  are  principally 
two  courses,  which  have  been  pursued  in  the  practice 
of  nations.  One  is,  to  leave  them,  so  to  say,  as  an 
afterthought, — the  last  thing  provided  for ;  to  let  the 
community  grow  up,  become  populous,  rich,  powerful ; 
an  immense  body  of  unenlightened  peasants,  artisans, 
traders,  soldiers,  subjected  to  a  small  privileged  class ; 
and  then,  let  learning  creep  in,  with  luxury ;  be  esteemed 
itself  a  luxury,  endowed  out  of  the  surplus  of  vast  pri- 
vate fortunes,  or  endowed  by  the  State  ;  and,  instead 

*  Speech  at  a  public  meeting,  held  at  St.  Paul's  Church,  Boston, 
May  21st,  1833,  on  behalf  of  Kenyon  College,  Ohio. 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  WEST.  163 

of  diffusing  a  wholesome  general  influence,  of  which  all 
partake,  and  by  which,  the  entire  character  of  the  peo- 
ple is  softened  and  elevated,  forming,  itself,  but  another 
of  those  circumstances  of  disparity,  and  jealous  contrast 
of  condition,  of  which  too  many  were  in  existence  be- 
fore ;  adding  the  aristocracy  of  learning,  acquired  at 
expensive  seats  of  science,  to  that  of  rank  and  wealth. 
This  is,  in  general,  the  course  which  has  been  pursued, 
with  respect  to  the  establishment  of  places  of  educa- 
tion, in  some  countries  of  Europe.  The  other  method 
is  that  introduced  by  our  forefathers,  namely,  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  the  Commonwealth  on  the  corner-stone 
of  religion  and  education  ;  to  make  the  means  of  enlight- 
ening the  community  go,  hand  in  hand,  with  the  means 
for  protecting  it  against  its  enemies,  extending  its  com- 
merce, and  increasing  its  numbers  ;  to  make  the  care  of 
the  mind,  from  the  outset,  a  part  of  its  public  economy  ; 
the  growth  of  knowledge,  a  portion  of  its  public  wealth. 
This,  sir,  is  the  New-England  system.  It  is  the 
system  on  which  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  was  led, 
in  1647,  to  order  that  a  school  should  be  supported  in 
every  town  ;  and  which,  eleven  years  earlier,  caused 
the  foundations  of  Harvard  College  to  be  laid,  by  an 
appropriation  out  of  the  scanty  means  of  the  coun- 
try, and  at  a  period  of  great  public  distress,  of  a  sum 
equal  to  the  whole  amount  raised  during  the  year,  for 
all  the  other  public  charges.  I  do  not  know  in  what 
words  I  can  so  well  describe  this  system,  as  in  those, 
used  by  our  fathers  themselves.  Quoted,  as  they  have 
been,  times  innumerable,  they  will  bear  quoting,  again  ; 
and  seem  to  me  peculiarly  apposite  to  this  occasion : 
"  After  God  had  carried  us  safe  to  New  England,  and 
we  had  builded  our  houses,  provided  necessaries  for  our 
livelihood,  reared  convenient  places  for  God's  worship, 
and  settled  the  civil  government,  one  of  the  next  things, 
we  longed  for  and  looked  after,  was,  to  advance  learn- 
ing, and  perpetuate  it  to  posterity ;  dreading  to  leave 
an  illiterate  ministry  to  the  churches,  when  the  present 
ministers  shall  be  in  the  dust." 


164  EDUCATION  IN  THE  WEST. 

Now,  sir,  it  is  proposed  to  assist  our  brethren  in  Ohio, 
to  lay  the  foundations  of  their  Commonwealth  on  this 
good  old  New-England  basis ;  and  if  ever  there  was 
a  region,  where  it  was  peculiarly  expedient  that  this 
should  be  done,  most  assuredly  the  western  part  of 
America, — and  the  State  of  Ohio  as  much  as  any  other 
portion  of  it. — is  that  region.  It  is  two  centuries,  since 
New  England  was  founded,  and  its  population,  by  the 
last  census,  fell  short  of  two  millions.  Forty  years  ago, 
Ohio  was  a  wilderness,  and,  by  the  same  enumeration, 
its  population  was  little  less  than  a  million.  At  this 
moment,  the  population  of  Ohio,  (the  settlement  of 
which  was  commenced,  in  1788,  by  a  small  party  from 
our  counties  of  Essex  and  Middlesex,)  is  almost  twice 
as  large  as  that  of  our  ancient  and  venerable  Massachu- 
setts. I  have  seen  this  wonderful  State,  with  my  own 
eyes.  The  terraqueous  globe  does  not  contain  a  spot 
more  favorably  situated.  Linked  to  New  Orleans,  on 
one  side,  by  its  own  beautiful  river  and  the  father  of 
waters,  and  united  to  New  York,  on  the  other  side,  by 
the  lake  and  the  Erie  canal,  she  has,  by  a  stupendous 
exertion  of  her  own  youthful  resources,  completed  the 
vast  circuit  of  communication  between  them.  The 
face  of  the  country  is  unusually  favorable  to  settlement, 
There  is  little  waste  or  broken  land.  The  soil  is  fertile, 
the  climate  salubrious ;  it  is  settled  by  as  truehearted 
and  substantial  a  race,  as  ever  founded  a  republic  ;  and 
there  they  now  stand,  a  million  of  souls,  gathered  into 
a  political  community,  in  a  single  generation  ! 

Now,  it  is  plain,  that  this  extraordinary  rapidity  of  in- 
crease requires  extraordinary  means,  to  keep  the  moral 
and  intellectual  growth  of  the  people  on  an  equality 
with  their  advancement  in  numbers  and  prosperity. 
These  last  take  care  of  themselves.  They  require 
nothing,  but  protection  from  foreign  countries,  and  se- 
curity of  property,  under  the  ordinary  administration  of 
justice.  But  a  system  of  institutions  for  education, — 
schools  and  colleges, — requires  extra  effort  and  means. 
The  individual  settler  can  fell  the  forest,  build  his  log- 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  WEST.  165 

house,  reap  his  crops,  and  raise  up  his  family,  in  the 
round  of  occupations  pursued  by  himself;  but  he  can- 
not, of  himself,  found  or  support  a  school,  far  less  a 
college ;  nor  can  he  do  as  much  toward  it,  as  a  single 
individual,  in  older  States,  where  ampler  resources  and 
a  denser  population  afford  means,  cooperation,  and  en- 
couragement, at  every  turn.  The  very  fact,  therefore, 
that  the  growth  of  the  country,  in  numbers,  has  been 
unexampled,  instead  of  suggesting  reasons  why  efforts 
in  the  cause  of  education  are  superfluous,  furnishes  an 
increased  and  increasing  claim  on  the  sympathy  and 
good  offices  of  all  the  friends  of  learning  and  educa- 
tion. 

What,  then,  are  the  reasonable  grounds  of  the  claim, 
as  made  on  us  ?  I  think  I  perceive  several. 

We  live  in  a  community  comparatively  ancient,  pos- 
sessed of  an  abundance  of  accumulated  capital,  the 
result  of  the  smiles  of  Providence  on  the  industry  of 
the  people.  We  profess  to  place  a  high  value  on  intel- 
lectual improvement,  on  education,  on  religion,  and  on 
the  institutions  for  its  support.  We  habitually  take 
credit  that  we  do  so.  To  whom  should  the  infant 
community,  destitute  of  these  institutions,  desirous  of 
enjoying  their  benefits,  and  as  yet  not  abounding  in 
disposable  means, — to  whom  should  they  look  ?  Whith- 
er shall  they  go,  but  to  their  brethren,  who  are  able  to 
appreciate  the  want,  and  competent  to  relieve  it  ?  Some 
one  must  do  it ;  these  institutions,  struggling  into  exis- 
tence, must  be  nurtured,  or  they  sink.  To  what  quar- 
ter can  they  address  themselves,  with  any  prospect  of 
success,  if  they  fail  here?  Where  will  they  find  a 
community  more  likely  to  take  an  interest  in  the  object, 
to  feel  a  livelier  sympathy  in  the  want,  more  liberal, 
more  able  to  give,  more  accustomed  to  give  ? 

It  is  not  merely  in  the  necessity  of  things,  that  young 
and  rising  communities,  if  assisted  at  all,  should  derive 
that  assistance  from  the  older  and  richer  ;  but  the  peri- 
od is  so  short,  since  we  ourselves  stood  in  that  relation 
to  the  mother  country,  and  derived,  from  her  bounty, 


166  EDUCATION  IN  THE  WEST. 

benefactions  to  our  institutions,  that  the  obligation  to 
requite  these  favors,  in  the  only  practicable  way,  is 
fresh  and  strong,  and  like  that  which  requires  a  man  to 
pay  his  debts.  Dr.  Franklin  was  accustomed,  some- 
times, to  bestow  a  pecuniary  favor  on  a  young  man,  and, 
instead  of  requiring  payment,  to  enjoin  the  object  of 
his  bounty,  when  advanced  in  life,  and  in  prosperous 
circumstances,  to  give  the  same  sum  of  money,  with  a 
like  injunction,  to  some  other  meritorious  and  needy 
young  person.  The  early  annals  of  our  Country  con- 
tain many  instances  of  liberality  from  beyond  the  ocean. 
Our  own  University  and  that  of  New  Haven  were 
largely  indebted, — particularly  ours, — to  pious  and  be- 
nevolent individuals  in  England.  I  know  no  mode  of 
requiting  these  favors,  (which  we  cannot  repay  to  the 
Country  from  which  we  received  them ;  she  wants 
nothing  we  can  give,)  more  natural  and  more  simple, 
than  by  imitating  the  liberality  of  which  we  have  profit- 
ed, and  supplying  the  wants  of  others,  at  that  stage  of 
their  social  progress,  at  which  our  own  were  supplied. 
The  inducements  to  such  an  exercise  of  liberality,  on 
our  part,  toward  our  brethren  in  the  West,  are  certainly 
stronger,  than  those  which  could  have  influenced  Eng- 
land to  assist  the  rising  institutions  of  America.  The 
settlers  of  the  Western  country  are  not  the  aggrieved 
and  persecuted  children  of  the  older  States.  We  have 
not  driven  them  out  from  among  us,  by  cruel  star-cham- 
ber edicts,  nor  have  they,  in  leaving  us,  shaken  off  from 
their  feet  the  dust  of  an  unfriendly  soil.  They  have 
moved  away  from  the  paternal  roof,  to  seek  a  new  but 
not  a  foreign  home.  They  have  parted  from  their 
native  land,  neither  in  anger  nor  despair ;  but  full  of 
buoyant  hope  and  tender  regret.  They  have  gone  to 
add  to  the  American  family,  not  to  dismember  it.  They 
are  our  brethren,  not  only  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the 
spirit  also,  in  character  and  in  feeling.  We,  in  our  place, 
regard  them,  neither  with  indifference,  jealousy,  nor 
enmity,  but  with  fraternal  affection,  and  true  good  will. 
Whom,  in  the  name  of  Heaven,  should  we  assist,  if  we 


EDUCATION  T«    THE  WEST.  167 

refuse  to  assist  them  ?  What,  sir,  can  we  minister  to 
the  intellectual  and  spiritual  wants  of  Syria,  and  of 
Greece,  of  Burmah,  of  Ceylon,  and  of  the  remotest 
isles  of  the  Pacific ;  have  we  enough,  and  to  spare,  for 
these  remote  nations  and  tribes,  with  whom  we  have 
no  nearer  kindred,  than  that  Adam  is  our  common  pa- 
rent, and  Christ  our  common  Saviour ;  and  shall  we 
shut  our  hands  on  the  call  for  the  soul's  food,  which  is 
addressed  to  us,  by  these  our  brethren,  our  schoolmates ; 
whose  fathers  stood,  side  by  side,  with  ours,  in  the  great 
crisis  of  the  Country's  fortune  ;  whose  forefathers  rest, 
side  by  side,  with  ours,  in  the  sacred  soil  of  New  Eng- 
land ?  I  say  nothing,  sir,  in  disparagement  of  the  ef- 
forts made  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  furthest  corners 
of  the  earth.  I  wish  them,  with  all  my  heart,  entire 
success.  But,  surely,  the  law  of  Christian  love  will  not 
permit  us,  in  our  care  for  the  distant  heathen,  to  over- 
look the  claims  of  our  fellow-citizens,  at  home. 

On  a  theme  like  this,  I  am  unwilling  to  appeal  to 
any  thing  like  interest ;  nor  will  I  appeal  to  an  interest 
of  a  low  and  narrow  character ;  but  I  cannot  shirt  my 
eyes  on  those  great  considerations  of  an  enlarged  poli- 
cy, which  demand  of  us  a  reasonable  liberality  toward 
the  improvement  of  these  Western  communities.  In 
the  year  1800,  the  State  of  Ohio  sent  one  member  to 
Congress  ;  and  Massachusetts,  (not  then  separated  from 
Maine,)  sent  twenty-one.  Now,  Ohio  sends  nineteen; 
and  Massachusetts, — recently,  and,  I  am  constrained  to 
add,  in  my  judgement,  unfairly,*  deprived  of  one  of 
her  members, — sends  but  twelve.  Nor  will  it  stop  here. 
"  They  must  increase,"  and  we,  in  comparison,  "  must 
decrease."  At  the  next  periodical  enumeration,  Ohio 
will  probably  be  entitled  to  nearly  thirty  representatives, 
and  Massachusetts  to  little  more  than  a  third  of  this 
number.  Now,  sir,  I  will  not,  on  this  occasion,  and  in 
this  house  of  prayer,  unnecessarily  introduce  topics  and 

*  By  adopting  a  ratio  of  representation,  which  left  Massachusetts 
with  an  unrepresented  fraction,  sufficient,  within  a  few  hundreds,  for 
another  member. 


168  EDUCATION  IN  THE  WEST. 

illustrations,  better  befitting  other  resorts.  I  will  not 
descant  on  interests  and  questions,  which,  in  the  divid- 
ed state  of  the  public  councils,  will  be  decided,  one 
way  or  the  other,  by  a  small  majority  of  voices.  I  re- 
ally wish  to  elevate  my  own  mind,  and,  as  far  as  lies  in 
me,  the  minds  of  those  I  have  the  honor  to  address,  to 
higher  views.  I  would  ask  you,  not  in  reference  to 
this  or  that  question,  but  in  reference  to  the  whole  com- 
plexion of  the  destinies  of  the  Country,  as  depending 
on  the  action  of  the  general  government ;  I  would  ask 
you,  as  to  that  momentous  future,  which  lies  before  us 
and  our  children ;  by  whom,  by  what  influence,  from 
what  quarter,  is  our  common  Country,  with  all  the  rich 
treasure  of  its  character,  its  hopes,  its  fortunes,  to  be 
affected,  to  be  controlled,  to  be  sustained,  and  guided 
in  the  paths  of  wisdom,  honor,-  and  prosperity,  or  sunk 
into  the  depth  of  degeneracy  and  humiliation  ?  Sir,  the 
response  is  in  every  man's  mind,  on  every  man's  lips. 
The  balance  of  the  Country's  fortunes  is  in  the  West. 
There  lie,  wrapped  up  in  the  folds  of  an  eventful  futu- 
rity,-the  influences,  which  will  most  powerfully  affect 
our  national  weal  and  wo.  We  have,  in  the  order  of 
Providence,  allied  ourselves  to  a  family  of  sister  com- 
munities, springing  into  existence  and  increasing  with 
unexampled  rapidity.  We  have  called  them  into  a  full 
partnership  in  the  government ;  the  course  of  events 
has  put  crowns  on  their  heads  and  sceptres  in  their 
hands ;  and  we  must  abide  the  result. 

But  has  the  power  indeed  departed  from  us ;  the 
efficient,  ultimate  power  ?  That,  sir,  is,  in  a  great  meas- 
ure, as  we  will.  The  real  government,  in  this  Country, 
is  that  of  opinion.  Toward  the  formation  of  the  public 
opinion  of  the  Country,  New  England,  while  she  con- 
tinues true  to  herself,  will,  as  in  times  past,  contribute 
vastly  beyond  the  proportion  of  her  numerical  strength. 
But,  besides  the  general  ascendancy  which  she  will 
maintain,  through  the  influence  of  public  opinion,  we 
can  do  two  things,  to  secure  a  strong  and  abiding  in- 
terest in  the  West,  operating,  I  do  not  say,  in  our  favor, 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  WEST.  169 

but  in  favor  of  principles  and  measures,  which  we  think 
sound  and  salutary.  The  first  is,  promptly  to  extend 
toward  the  West,  on  every  fitting  occasion  which  pre- 
sents itself,  consistently  with  public  and  private  duty, 
either  in  the  course  of  legislation  or  the  current  of  af- 
fairs, those  good  offices,  which  of  right  pertain  to  the 
relative  condition  of  the  two  parts  of  the  Country ;  to 
let  the  West  know,  by  experience,  both  in  the  halls  of 
Congress  and  the  channels  of  commercial  and  social 
intercourse,  that  the  East  is  truly,  cordially,  and  effect- 
ively, her  friend  ;  not  her  rival  nor  enemy. 

The  kindly  influence,  thus  produced,  will  prove  of 
great  power  and  value ;  and  will  go  far  to  secure  a  re- 
turn of  fraternal  feeling  and  political  sympathy  ;  but  it 
will  not,  of  itself,  on  great  and  trying  occasions  of  a 
supposed  diversity  of  sectional  interest,  always  prove 
strong  enough  to  maintain  a  harmony  of  councils.  But 
we  can  do  another  thing,  of  vastly  greater  moment. 
We  can  put  in  motion  a  principle  of  influence,  of  a 
much  higher  and  more  generous  character.  We  can 
furnish  the  means  of  building  up  institutions  of  educa- 
tion. We  can,  from  our  surplus,  contribute  toward 
the  establishment  and  endowment  of  those  seminaries, 
where  the  mind  of  the  West  shall  be  trained  and  en- 
iightened.  Yes,  sir,  we  can  do  this ;  and  it  is  so  far 
optional  with  us,  whether  the  power,  to  which  we  have 
subjected  ourselves,  shall  be  a  power  of  intelligence  or 
of  ignorance ;  a  reign  of  reflection  and  reason,  or  of 
reckless  strength  ;  a  reign  of  darkness,  or  of  light.  This, 
sir,  is  true  statesmanship  ;  this  is  policy,  of  which  Wash- 
ington would  not  be  ashamed.  While  the  partisan  of 
the  day  plumes  himself  upon  a  little  worthless  popular- 
ity, gained  by  bribing  the  interest  of  one  quarter,  and 
falling  in  with  the  prejudices  of  another ;  it  is  truly 
worthy  of  a  patriot,  by  contributing  toward  the  means 
of  steadily,  diffusively,  and  permanently,  enlightening 
the  public  mind,  as  far  as  opportunity  exists,  in  every 
part  of  the  Country,  to  secure  it  in  a  wise  and  liberal 
course  of  public  policy. 

15  E.  E, 


170  EDUCATION  IN  THE  WEST. 

Let  no  Bostonian  capitalist,  then,  let  no  man,  who 
has  a  large  stake  in  New  England,  and  who  is  called  upon 
to  aid  this  Institution  in  the  centre  of  Ohio,  think  that 
he  is  called  upon  to  exercise  his  liberality  at  a  distance, 
towards  those  in  whom  he  has  no  concern.  Sir,  it  is 
his  own  interest,  he  is  called  upon  to  promote.  It  is  not 
their  work,  he  is  called  upon  to  do  ;  it  is  his  own  work. 
It  is  my  opinion,  which,  though  it  may  sound  extrava- 
gant, will,  I  believe,  bear  examination,  that,  if  the  ques- 
tion were  propounded  to  us,  this  moment,  whether  it 
were  most  for  the  benefit  of  Massachusetts,  to  give  fifty 
thousand  dollars  toward  founding  another  college  in 
Middlesex,  Hampshire,  or  Berkshire,  or  for  the  support 
of  this  College  in  the  Ohio,  we  should,  if  well  advised, 
decide  for  the  latter.  We  have  Harvard,  Amherst,  Wil- 
liams ; — we  do  not  want  another  college.  In  the  West, 
is  avast  and  growing  population,  possessing  a  great  and 
increasing  influence  in  the  political  system  of  which  we 
are  members.  Is  it  for  our  interest,  strongly,  vitally,  for 
our  interest,  that  this  population  should  be  intelligent, 
and  well  educated  ;  or  ignorant,  and  enslaved  to  all  the 
prejudices  which  beset  an  ignorant  people  ? 

When,  then,  the  Right  Reverend  Bishop,  and  the 
friends  of  the  West,  ask  you,  on  this  occasion,  to  help 
them,  they  ask  you,  in  effect,  to  spare  a  part  of  your 
surplus  means,  for  an  object,  in  which,  to  say  the  least, 
you  have  a  common  interest  with  them.  They  ask  you, 
to  contribute  to  give  security  to  your  own  property,  by 
diffusing  the  means  of  light  and  truth  throughout  the 
region,  where  so  much  of  the  power  to  preserve  or  to 
shake  it  resides.  They  ask  you,  to  contribute  to  per- 
petuate the  Union,  by  training  up  a  well-educated  pop- 
ulation, in  the  quarter  which  may  hereafter  be  exposed 
to  strong  centrifugal  influences.  They  ask  you,  to  re- 
cruit your  waning  strength,  in  the  National  councils,  by 
enlisting  on  your  side  their  swelling  numbers,  reared  in 
the  discipline  of  sound  learning  and  sober  wisdom ;  so 
that,  when  your  voice  in  the  government  shall  become 
comparatively  weak  instead  of  being  drowned  by  a 


EDUCATION  IN  THE  WEST.  171 

strange  and  unfriendly  clamor,  from  this  mighty  region, 
it  may  be  reechoed,  with  increased  strength  and  a  sym- 
pathetic response,  from  the  rising  millions  of  the  North- 
western States.  Yes,  sir,  they  do  more.  They  ask 
you,  to  make  yourselves  rich,  in  their  respect,  good-will, 
and  gratitude  ; — to  make  your  name  dear  and  venera- 
ble, in  their  distant  shades.  They  ask  you,  to  give  their 
young  men  cause  to  love  you,  now,  in  the  spring-time 
of  life,  before  the  heart  is  chilled  and  hardened ;  to 
make  their  old  men,  who,  in  the  morning  of  their  days, 
went  out  from  your  borders,  lift  up  their  hands  for  a 
blessing  on  you,  and  say,  "  Ah,  this  is  the  good  old- 
fashioned  liberality  of  the  land  where  we  were  born  !" 
Yes,  sir,  we  shall  raise  an  altar,  in  the  remote  wilder- 
ness. Our  eyes  will  not  behold  the  smoke  of  its  in- 
cense, as  it  curls  up  to  heaven.  But  there,  the  altar 
will  stand  ;  there,  the  pure  sacrifice  of  the  spirit  will  be 
offered  up ;  and  the  worshipper  who  comes,  in  all  fu- 
ture time,  to  pay  his  devotions  before  it,  will  turn  his 
face  to  the  Eastward,  and  think  of  the  land  of  his  ben- 
efactors. 


172  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND* 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN, — IT  has  given  me 
peculiar  satisfation,  to  obey  your  call,  and  appear  before 
you,  on  this  occasion.  I  take  a  sincere  pleasure,  as  an 
affectionate  and  dutiful  child  of  Harvard,  and  as  an 
humble  member  of  the  branch  of  our  fraternity,  which 
is  there  established,  in  presenting  myself,  within  the 
precincts  of  this  ancient  and  distinguished  Seminary, 
for  the  discharge  of  the  agreeable  duty  which  you  have 
assigned  me.  I  rejoice  in  the  confidence,  which  your 
invitation  implies,  that  I  know  neither  sect  nor  party, 
in  the  Republic  of  Letters  ;  and  that  I  enter  your  halls, 
with  as  much  assurance  of  a  kind  reception,  as  I  would 
those  of  my  own  revered  and  ever  gracious  Alma  Ma- 
ter. This  confidence  does  me  no  more  than  justice. 
Ardently  and  gratefully  attached  to  the  Institution  in 
which  I  received  my  education,  I  could  in  no  way  so 
effectually  prove  myself  its  degenerate  child,  as  by  har- 
boring the  slightest  feeling  of  jealousy,  at  the  expanded 
and  growing  reputation  of  this,  its  distinguished  rival. 
In  no  way,  could  I  so  surely  prove  myself  a  tardy  schol- 
ar of  the  School,  in  which  I  have  been  brought  up,  as 
by  refusing  to  rejoice  in  the  prosperity  and  usefulness 
of  every  sister  institution,  devoted  to  the  same  good 
cause ;  and  especially,  of  this,  the  most  eminent  and 
efficient  of  her  associates. 

There  are  recollections  of  former  times,  well  calcu- 
lated to  form  a  bond  of  good  feeling  between  our  Uni- 
versities. We  cannot  forget,  that,  in  the  early  days  of 
Harvard,  when  its  existence  almost  depended  on  the 
precarious  contributions  of  its  friends, — contributions, 
not  of  munificent  affluence,  but  of  pious  poverty, — not 
poured  into  the  academic  coffers,  in  splendid  donations, 

*  An  Address  delivered  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  in  Yale 
College,  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  August  20th,  1833. 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  173 

but  spared  from  the  scanty  means  of  an  infant  and  des- 
titute country,  and  presented,  in  their  primitive  form,  a 
bushel  of  wheat,  a  cord  of  wood,  and  a  string  of  Indian 
beads, — (this  last,  not  a  little  to  the  annoyance  of  good 
old  President  Dunster,  who,  as  the  records  of  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  United  Colonies  tell  us,  was  sorely 
perplexed,  in  sifting  out,  from  the  mass  of  the  genuine 
quahog  and  periwinkle,  bits  of  blue  glass  and  colored 
stones,  feloniously  intermixed,  without  the  least  respect 
for  the  purity  of  the  Colony's  wampum,*)  we  cannot 
forget,  that,  in  that  day  of  small  things,  the  contributions 
'of  Connecticut  and  New  Haven, — as  the  two  infant 
Colonies  were  distinguished, — flowed  as  liberally  to  the 
support  of  Cambridge,  as  those  of  Plymouth  and  Massa- 
chusetts. Still  less  would  I  forget,  that,  of  the  three 
first  generations  of  the  Fathers  of  Connecticut,  those 
who  were  educated  in  America  received  their  education 
at  Cambridge ;  that  the  four  first  Presidents  of  Yale 
were  graduates  of  Harvard ;  and  that,  of  all  your  dis- 
tinguished men,  in  church  and  state,  for  nearly  a  hun- 
dred years,  a  goodly  proportion  were  fitted  for  useful- 
ness in  life  within  her  venerable  walls.  If  the  success 
of  the  child  be  the  joy  of  the  parent,  and  the  honor  of 
the  pupil  be  the  crown  of  the  master,  with  what  hon- 
est satisfaction  may  not  our  institutions  reflect,  that 
they  stood  to  each  other  in  this  interesting  relation,  in 
this  early,  and  critical  state  of  the  Country's  growth, 
when  the  direction  taken,  and  the  character  impress- 
ed, were  decisive  of  interminable  consequences.  And 
while  we  claim  the  right  of  boasting  of  your  charac- 
ter and  institutions,  as,  in  some  degree,  the  fruit  of  a 
good  old  Massachusetts  influence,  we  hope  you  will 
not  have  cause  to  feel  ashamed  of  the  auspices,  under 
which,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  foundation  of  those  insti- 
tutions was  laid,  and  their  early  progress  encouraged. 

In  choosing  a  topic,  on  which  to  address  you,  this 
morning,  I  should  feel  a  greater  embarrassment  than  I 

*  Hazard's  State  Papers,  Vol.  II.  page  124. 

15* 


174  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

do,  did  I  not  suppose  that  your  thoughts,  like  my  own, 
would  flow  naturally  into  such  a  channel  of  reflection, 
as  may  be  presumed  at  all  times  to  be  habitual  and  fa- 
miliar, with  men  of  liberal  education  and  patriotic  feel- 
ing. The  great  utility  of  occasions  like  this,  and  of 
the  addresses  they  elicit,  is  not  to  impart  stores  of  in- 
formation, laboriously  collected  ;  not  to  broach  new  sys- 
tems, requiring  carefully-weighed  arguments  for  their 
defence,  or  a  multitude  of  well-arranged  facts  for  their 
illustration.  We  meet,  at  these  literary  festivals,  to 
promote  kind  feeling ;  to  impart  new  strength  to  good 
purposes ;  to  enkindle  and  animate  the  spirit  of  improve- 
ment, in  ourselves  and  others.  We  leave  our  closets, 
our  offices,  and  our  studies,  to  meet  and  salute  each 
other,  in  these  pleasant  paths  ;  to  prevent  the  diverging 
walks  of  life  from  wholly  estranging  those  from  each 
other,  who  were  kind  friends,  at  its  outset ;  to  pay  our 
homage  to  the  venerated  fathers,  who  honor,  with  their 
presence,  the  return  of  these  academic  festivals ;  and 
those  of  us  who  are  no  longer  young,  to  make  acquaint- 
ance with  the  ardent  and  ingenuous,  who  are  following 
after  us.  The  preparation,  for  an  occasion  like  this,  is 
in  the  heart,  not  in  the  head ;  it  is  in  the  attachments 
formed  and  the  feelings  inspired,  in  the  bright  morning 
of  life.  Our  preparation  is  in  the  classic  atmosphere 
of  the  place,  in  the  tranquillity  of  the  academic  grove, 
in  the  unoffending  peace  of  the  occasion,  in  the  open 
countenance  of  long-parted  associates,  joyous  at  meet- 
ing, and  in  the  kind  and  indulgent  smile  of  the  favor- 
ing throng,  which  bestows  its  animating  attendance  on 
our  humble  exercises. 

When  I  look  around  upon  the  assembled  audience, 
and  reflect,  from  how  many  different  places  of  abode, 
throughout  our  Country,  the  professional  part  of  it  is 
gathered,  and  in  what  a  variety  of  pursuits  and  duties 
it  is  there  occupied ;  and  when  I  consider  that  this, 
our  literary  festival,  is  also  honored  with  the  presence 
of  many,  from  every  other  class  of  the  community,  all 
of  whom  have  yet  a  common  interest  in  one  subject, 


EDUCATION  OP  MANKIND.  175 

at  least,  I  foci  as  if  the  topic,  on  which  I  am  to  ask 
your  attention,  were  imperatively  suggested  to  me.  It 
is,  the  nature  and  efficacy  of  Education,  as  the  great 
human  instrument  of  improving  the  condition  of  man. 

Education  has  been,  at  some  former  periods  exclu- 
sively, and  more  or  less  at  all  former  periods,  the  train- 
ing of  a  learned  class  ;  the  mode,  in  which  men  of  let- 
ters, or  the  members  of  the  professions,  acquired  that 
lore,  which  enabled  them  to  insulate  themselves  from 
the  community,  and  gave  them  the  monopoly  of  ren- 
dering the  services,  in  church  and  state,  which  the 
wants  or  imaginations  of  men  made  necessary,  and  of 
tiie  honors  and  rewards,  which,  by  the  political  consti- 
tution of  society,  attached  to  the  discharge  of  those  ser- 
vices. 

I  admit,  that  there  was  something  generous  and  lib- 
eral in  education  ;  something  popular,  and,  if  I  may  so 
express  it,  republican,  in  the  educated  class,  even  at  the 
darkest  period.  Learning,  even  in  its  most  futile  and 
scholastic  forms,  was  still  an  affair  of  the  mind.  It 
was  not,  like  hereditary  rank,  mere  physical  accident; 
it  was  not,  like  military  power,  mere^physical  force.  It 
gave  an  intellectual  influence,  derived  from  intellectual 
superiority ;  and  it  enabled  some  minds,  even  in  the 
darkest  ages  of  European  history,  to  rise,  from  obscurity 
and  poverty,  to  be  the  lights  and  guides  of  mankind. 
Such  was  Beda,  the  great  luminary  of  a  dark  period,  a 
poor  and  studious  monk,  who,  without  birth  or  fortune, 
became  the  great  teacher  of  science  and  letters  to  the 
age  in  which  he  lived.  Such,  still  more  eminently,  was 
his  illustrious  pupil,  Alcuin,  who,  by  the  simple  force 
of  mental  energy,  employed  in  intellectual  pursuits, 
raised  himself  from  the  cloister,  to  be  the  teacher,  com- 
panion, and  friend,  of  Charlemagne ;  and  to  whom  it 
has  been  said  that  France  is  indebted,  for  all  the  polite 
literature  of  his  own,  and  the  succeeding  ages.*  Such, 
at  a  later  period,  was  another  poor  monk,  Roger  Bacon, 

*  Cave,  Hist.  Lit.  Saec.  VII.,  An.  780,  cited  in  the  Life  of  Alcuin, 
in  the  Biographia  Britnnnica. 


176  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

the  precursor,  and,  for  the  state  of  the  times  in  which 
he  lived,  scarcely  the  inferior,  of  his  namesake,  the  im- 
mortal Chancellor. 

But  a  few  brilliant  exceptions  do  not  affect  the  gen- 
eral character  of  the  education  of  former  ages.  It  was 
a  thing  apart  from  the  condition,  the  calling,  the  ser- 
vice, and  the  participation,  of  the  great  mass  of  men. 
It  was  the  training  of  a  privileged  class ;  and  was  far 
too  exclusively  the  instrument,  by  which  one  of  the  fa- 
vored orders  of  society  was  enabled  to  exercise  a  tyran- 
nical and  exclusive  control  over  the  millions,  which  lay 
wrapt  in  ignorance  and  superstition.  It  is  the  great 
glory  of  the  age  in  which  we  live,  that  learning,  once 
the  instrument  of  this  bondage,  has  become  the  instru- 
ment of  reform  ;  that,  instead  of  an  educated  class,  we 
have  made  some  good  approach  to  an  educated  commu- 
nity. That  intellectual  culture,  which  gave  to  a  few 
the  means  of  maintaining  an  ascendency  over  the  fears 
and  weaknesses  of  their  age,  has  now  become  the  me- 
dium of  a  grand  and  universal  mental  equality,  and, 
humanly  speaking,  the  great  concern  of  man.  It  has 
become  the  school  of  all  the  arts,  for  all  the  pursuits,  and 
the  preparation  of  a  very  considerable  portion  of  the 
mass  of  mankind  for  the  duties,  which,  in  the  present 
state  of  the  world,  devolve  upon  them. 

Let  us,  then,  dwell,  for  a  moment,  on  what  is  to  be 
effected  by  education,  considered  in  its  ultimate  objects 
and  most  comprehensive  sense,  in  which,  of  course,  is 
included,  as  the  most  important  element,  the  sound  and 
enlightened  influence  of  deep  religious  principle,  to  be 
cherished  and  applied,  through  the  institutions  existing 
for  that  sacred  purpose. 

A  great  work  is  to  be  done.  What  is  it,  in  its  gen- 
eral outline  and  first  principles  ? 

To  answer  this  question,  we  must  remember,  that, 
of  the  generation  now  on  the  stage,  by  which  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Country,  public  and  private,  is  carried  on, 
not  an  individual,  speaking  in  general  terms,  will  be  in 
a  state  of  efficient  activity,  and  very  few  in  existence, 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  177 

thirty  years  hence.  Not  merely  those,  by  whom  the 
government  is  administered  and  the  public  service  per- 
formed, in  its  various  civil  and  military  departments, 
will  have  passed  away  ;  but  all,  who  are  doing  the  great, 
multifarious,  never-ending,  work  of  social  life,  from  the 
highest  teacher  of  spiritual  wisdom  and  the  profound- 
est  expositor  of  the  law,  to  the  humblest  artisan,  will 
have  ceased  to  exist.  The  work  is  to  go  on  ;  the  gov- 
ernment is  to  be  administered,  laws  are  to  be  enacted 
and  executed,  peace  preserved  or  war  levied,  the  will 
of  the  people  to  be  expressed  by  their  suffrages,  and 
the  vast  systern  of  the  industrious  action  of  a  great  peo- 
ple, in  all  their  thousand  occupations,  by  sea  and  land, 
to  be  kept  up  and  extended ;  but  those,  now  employed 
in  all  this  great  work,  are  to  cease  from  it,  and  others 
are  to  take  their  places. 

Like  most  of  the  great  phenomena  of  life, — miracles, 
if  I  may  so  say,  of  daily  occurrence, — this  vast  change, 
this  surcease  of  a  whole  generation,  loses,  from  its  fa- 
miliarity, almost  all  power  of  affecting  the  imagination. 
The  political  revolution,  which  changes  the  royal  suc- 
cession from  one  family  to  another,  which  prostrates  a 
king  to  elevate  an  emperor,  and  cements  his  throne 
with  the  blood  of  some  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands,  of 
the  wretched  victims  of  his  ambition,  is  the  wonder  of 
the  age,  the  perpetual  theme  of  discourse,  the  standing 
topic  of  admiration.  But  this  great  revolution,- — which 
prostrates,  not  one  man,  nor  one  family,  in  a  single  na- 
tion, but  every  man,  in  every  family,  throughout  the 
world ;  which  bids  an  entire  new  congregation  of  men 
to  start  into  existence  and  action  ;  which  fills,  with  new 
incumbents,  not  one  blood-stained  seat  of  royalty,  but 
every  post  of  active  duty,  and  every  retreat  of  private 
life ; — steals  on  us  silently  and  gradually,  like  all  the 
primordial  operations  of  Providence,  and  must  be  made 
the  topic  of  express  disquisition,  before  its  extent  and 
magnitude  are  estimated,  and  the  practical  duties  to  be 
deduced  from  it  are  understood. 

Such  a  revolution,  however,  is  impending, — as  deci 


178  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

sive,  as  comprehensive,  as  real,  as  if,  instead  of  being 
the  gradual  work  of  thirty  years,  it  were  to  be  accom- 
plished in  a  day  or  an  hour ;  and  so  much  the  more 
momentous,  for  the  gradual  nature  of  the  process.  Were 
the  change  to  be  effected,  at  once,  were  this  generation 
swept  off,  and  another  brought  forward,  by  one  great 
act  of  creative  energy,  it  would  concern  us,  only  as 
speculative  philanthropists,  what  might  be  the  character 
of  our  successors.  Whether  we  transmitted  them  a 
heritage  honored  or  impaired  ;  whether  they  succeeded 
to  it,  well  trained  to  preserve  and  increase,  or  ready  to 
waste,  it,  would  import  nothing  to  our  interests  or  feel- 
ings. But,  by  the  law  of  our  nature,  the  generations 
of  men  are  most  closely  interlaced  with  each  other,  and 
the  decline  of  one  and  the  accession  of  the  other  are 
gradual.  One  survives,  and  the  other  anticipates  its 
activity.  While,  in  the  decline  of  life,  we  are  permit- 
ted to  reap,  on  the  one  hand,  a  rich  reward  for  all  that 
we  have  attempted  patriotically  and  honestly,  in  public 
or  private,  for  the  good  of  our  fellow-men  ;  on  the  other 
hand,  retribution  rarely  fails  to  overtake  us,  as  individ- 
uals or  communities,  for  the  neglect  of  public  duties, 
or  the  violation  of  the  social  trust. 

"  We  still  have  judgement  here  ;  that  we  but  teach 
Bloody  instructions,  which,  being  taught,  return 
To  plague  the  inventor  :  this  even-handed  justice 
Commends  the  ingredients  of  the  poisoned  chalice 
To  our  own  lips." 

By  this  law  of  our  natures,  the  places,  which  we  fill 
in  the  world,  are  to  be  taken  from  us  ;  we  are  to  be  dis- 
possessed of  our  share  in  the  honors  and  emoluments 
of  life  ;  driven  from  our  resorts  of  business  and  pleas- 
ure ;  ousted  from  our  tenements  ;  ejected  from  our  es- 
tates ;  banished  from  the  soil  we  called  our  own,  and 
interdicted  fire  and  water  in  our  native  land ;  and  those, 
who  ward  off  this  destiny  the  longest,  after  holding  on, 
a  little  while,  with  a  convulsive  grasp,  making  a  few 
more  efforts,  exposing  their  thin  gray  hairs,  in  another 
campaign  or  two,  will  gladly,  of  their  own  accord, 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  179 

before  a  great  while,  claim  to  be  exempts  in  the  ser- 
vice. 

But  this  revolution,  growing  out  of  the  constitution 
of  our  nature,  points  out  the'  business  of  education,  as 
the  duty  and  calling  of  man,  precisely  because  it  is  not 
the  work  of  violent  hands,  but  the  law  of  our  being. 
It  is  not  an  outraged  populace,  rising  in  their  wrath  and 
fury,  to  throw  off  the  burden  of  centuries  of  oppression. 
Nor  is  it  an  inundation  of  strange  barbarians,  issuing, 
nation  after  nation,  from  some  remote  and  inexhaustible 
ojficina  gentium,*  lashed  forward,  to  the  work  of  des- 
truction, by  the  chosen  scourges  of  God.  These  are 
the  means,  by  which,  when  corruption  has  attained  a 
height  beyond  the  reach  of  ordinary  influences,  a  prep- 
aration for  a  great  and  radical  revolution  is  made.  But 
the  revolution  of  which  I  speak,  and  which  furnishes  the 
principles  of  the  great  duty  of  education,  all-compre- 
hensive and  unsparing  as  it  is,  is  to  be  effected  by  a 
gentle  race  of  beings,  just  stepping  over  the  threshold 
of  childhood,  many  of  them  hardly  crept  into  existence. 
They  are  to  be  found  within  the  limits  of  our  own  Coun- 
try, of  our  own  community,  beneath  our  own  roofs, 
clinging  about  our  necks.  Father  !  he,  whom  you  fold- 
ed in  your  arms,  and  carried  in  your  bosom  ;  whom, 
with  unutterable  anxiety,  you  watched,  through  the  per- 
ilous years  of  childhood ;  whom  you  have  brought  to 
college,  this  very  Commencement,  and  are  dismissing 
from  beneath  your  paternal  guard,  with  tearful  eyes  and 
an  aching  heart ;  it  is  he,  who  is  destined,  (if  your  ar- 
dent prayers  are  heard,)  to  outthunder  you  at  the  forum 
and  in  the  Senate  House !  Fond  mother !  the  future 
rival  of  your  not  yet  fading  charms,  the  matre  pulchra 
filia  pulchriar,^  is  the  rose-bud,  which  is  beginning  to 
open  and  blush  by  your  side !  Destined  to  supersede 
us,  in  all  we  hold  dear,  they  are  the  objects  of  our  ten- 
derest  cares.  Soon  to  outnumber  us,  we  spare  no  pains 
to  protect  and  rear  them  ;  and  the  strongest  instinct  of 

*  Workshop  of  nations. 

t  The  fairer  daughter  of  a  fair  mother. 


180  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

our  hearts  urges  us,  by  every  device  and  appliance,  to 
bring  forward  those  who  are  to  fill  our  places,  possess 
our  fortunes,  wear  our  honors,  snatch  the  laurel  from 
our  heads,  the  words  froni  our  lips,  the  truncheon  of 
command  from  our  hands,  and,  at  last,  gently  crowd 
us,  worn  out  and  useless,  from  the  scene. 

I  have  dwelt  on  this  connexion  of  nature  and  affec- 
tion, between  the  generations  of  men,  because  it  is  the 
foundation  of  the  high  philosophy  of  education.  It 
places  the  duty  of  imparting  it,  upon  the  broad  eternal 
basis  of  natural  love.  It  is  manifest,  that,  in  the  provi- 
dent constitution  of  an  intellectual  order  of  beings,  the 
trust  of  preparing  each  generation  of  which  it  was  to 
consist,  for  the  performance  of  its  part  on  the  great 
stage  of  life,  was  all-important,  all-essential ;  too  vitally 
so,  to  be  put  in  charge  with  any  but  the  most  intimate 
principles  of  our  being.  It  has,  accordingly,  been  inter- 
woven with  the  strongest  and  purest  passions  of  the 
heart.  Maternal  fondness  ;  a  father's  thoughtful  care  ; 
the  unreasoning  instincts  of  the  family  circle ;  the  par- 
tialities, the  prejudices,  of  blood, — are  all  made  to  ope- 
rate, as  efficient  principles,  by  which  the  risen  genera- 
tion is  urged  to  take  care  of  its  successor :  and,  when 
the  subject  is  pursued  to  its  last  analysis,  we  find,  that 
education,  in  its  most  comprehensive  form, — the  general 
training  and  preparation  of  our  successors, — is  the  great 
errand  which  we  have  to  execute  in  the  world.  We 
either  assume  it,  as  our  primary  business,  or  depute  it 
to  others,  because  we  think  they  will  better  perform  it. 
Much  of  the  practical  and  professional  part  we  direct, 
ourselves.  We  come  back  to  it,  as  a  relaxation  or  a 
solace.  We  labor  to  provide  the  means  of  supplying 
it  to  those  we  love.  We  retrench  in  our  pleasures, 
that  we  may  abound  in  this  duty.  It  animates  our 
toils,  dignifies  our  selfishness,  makes  our  parsimony 
generous,  furnishes  the  theme  for  the  efforts  of  the 
greatest  minds ;  and,  directly  or  indirectly,  fills  up  no 
small  part  of  our  lives. 

In  a  word,  then,  we  have  before  us,  as  the  work  to 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  181 

be  done  by  this  generation,  to  train  up  that  which  is  to 
succeed  us. 

This  is  a  work  of  boundless  compass,  difficulty,  and 
interest.  Considered  as  brethren  of  the  human  family, 
it  looks,  of  course,  to  the  education  of  all  mankind. 
If  we  confine  ourselves  to  our  duty,  as  American  citi- 
zens, the  task  is  momentous,  almost  beyond  the  power 
of  description.  Though  the  view  which  I  would,  at 
this  time,  take  of  the  subject,  does  not  confine  itself  to 
the  fortunes  of  a  single  nation,  I  will  dwell  upon  it,  for 
a  moment,  exclusively  in  relation  to  this  Country.  I 
will  suppose,  that  our  Union  is  to  remain  unbroken,  for 
another  generation  ;  a  supposition  which,  I  trust,  I  may 
safely  make ;  and,  if  this  should  be  the  case,  it  is  no 
violent  presumption  to  suppose,  that,  in  all  respects,  the 
Country  will  continue  to  advance,  with  a  rapidity,  equal 
to  that,  which  has  marked  its  progress  for  the  last  thir- 
ty years.  On  this  supposition,  the  close  of  another 
generation  will  see  our  population  swelled  to  above 
thirty  millions  ;  all  our  public  establishments  increased 
in  the  same  ratio ;  four  or  five  new  States  added  to  the 
Union  ;  towns  and  villages  scattered  over  regions,  now 
lying  in  the  unbroken  solitude  of  Nature  ;  roads  cut 
across  pathless  mountains ;  rivers,  now  unexplored, 
alive  with  steam-boats  ;  and  all  those  parts  of  the  Coun- 
try, which,  at  this  time,  are  partially  settled,  crowded 
with  a  much  denser  population,  with  all  its  attendant 
structures,  establishments,  and  institutions.  In  other 
words,  besides  replacing  the  present  numbers,  a  new 
nation,  more  than  fifteen  millions  strong,  will  exist 
within  the  United  States.  The  wealth  of  the  Country 
will  increase  still  more  rapidly ;  and  all  the  springs  of 
social  life,  which  capital  moves,  will,  of  course,  increase 
in  power ;  and  a  much  more  intense  condition  of  exis- 
tence will  be  the  result. 

It  is  for  this  state  of  things  that  the  present  genera- 
tion is  to  educate  and  train  its  successors ;  and  on  the 
care  and  skill,  with  which  their  education  is  conducted, 
on  the  liberality,  magnanimity,  and  single-heartedness, 
16  E.  E 


182  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

with  which  we  go  about  this  great  work,  eacli  in  his 
proper  sphere,  and  according  to  his  opportunities  and 
vocation,  will,  of  course,  depend  the  honor  and  success, 
with  which  those  who  come  after  us  will  perform  their 
parts,  on  the  great  stage  of  life. 

This  reflection,  of  itself,  would  produce  a  deep  im- 
pression of  the  importance  of  the  great  work  of  educa- 
tion, to  be  performed  by  the  present  generation  of  men. 
But  we  must  further  take  into  consideration,  in  order  to 
the  perfect  understanding  of  the  subject,  the  quality  of 
that  principle  which  is  to  receive,  and  of  that  which  is  to 
impart,  the  education  ;  that  is,  of  the  mind  of  this  age 
acting  upon  the  mind  of  the  next ;  both  natures  indefi- 
nitely expansive,  in  their  capacities  of  action  and  appre- 
hension ;  natures,  whose  powers  have  never  been  de- 
fined ;  whose  depths  have  never  been  sounded ;  whose  or- 
bit can  be  measured,  only  by  that  Superior  Intelligence, 
which  has  assigned  its  limits,  if  limits  it  have.  When 
we  consider  this,  we  gain  a  vastly  extended  and  elevat- 
ed notion  of  the  duty  which  is  to  be  performed.  It  is 
nothing  less,  than  to  put  in  action  the  entire  mental 
power  of  the  present  day,  in  its  utmost  stretch,  consist- 
ent with  happiness  and  virtue,  and  so  as  to  develope 
and  form  the  utmost  amount  of  capacity,  intelligence, 
and  usefulness,  of  intellectual  and  moral  power  and 
happiness,  in  that  which  is  to  follow.  We  are  not 
merely  to  transmit  the  world,  as  we  receive  it ;  to 
teach,  in  a  stationary  repetition,  the  arts  which  we  have 
received  ;  as  the  dove  builds,  this  year,  just  such  a  nest 
as  was  built  by  the  dove  that  went  out  from  the  ark, 
when  the  waters  had  abated  ;  but  we  are  to  apply  the 
innumerable  discoveries,  inventions,  and  improvements, 
which  have  been  successively  made  in  the  world, — and 
never  more  than  of  late  years, — and  combine  and  elab- 
orate them  into  one  grand  system  of  condensed  effica- 
cy and  quickened  vitality,  in  forming  and  bringing  for- 
ward our  successors. 

These  considerations  naturally  suggest  the  inquiry, — 
how  much  can  be  done  by  a  proper  exertion  of  our 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  183 

powers  and  capacities,  to  improve  the  condition  of  our 
successors?  Is  there  reason  to  hope,  that  any  great 
advances  can  be  made  ;  that  any  considerable  stride 
can  be  taken,  by  the  moral  and  intellectual  agency  of 
this  age,  as  exerted  in  influencing  the  character  of  the 
next? 

I  know  of  no  way  to  deal  practically  with  this  great 
problem,  but  to  ask,  more  particularly,  what  is  effected, 
in  the  ordinary  course  of  intellectual  action  and  reac- 
tion ?  What  is  the  average  amount  of  the  phenomena 
of  education,  in  their  final  result,  which  the  inspection 
of  society  presents  to  us  ?  How  much  is  effected,  so 
frequently  and  certainly  as  to  authorize  a  safe  inference, 
as  to  what  may  be  done,  in  the  ordinary  progress  of  the 
mind,  and  conjectures  as  to  its  possible  strides,  bounds, 
and  flights  ? 

We  can  make  this  inquiry  on  no  other  assumed  ba- 
sis, but  that  of  the  natural  average  equality  of  all  men, 
as  rational  and  improvable  beings.  I  do  not  mean,  that 
all  men  are  created  with  a  physical  and  intellectual  con- 
stitution, capable  of  attaining,  with  the  same  opportuni- 
ties, the  same  degree  of  improvement.  I  cannot  assert 
Wiat,  nor  would  I  willingly  undertake  to  disprove  it.  I 
leave  it  aside  ;  and  suppose,  that,  on  an  average,  men  are 
born  with  equal  capacities.  What,  then,  do  we  behold, 
as  regards  the  difference  resulting  from  education  and 
training  ?  Let  us  take  examples,  in  the  two  extremes. 
On  the  one  hand,  we  have  the  most  degraded  savage.; 
but  little  better,  in  appearance,  than  the  orang  outang, 
his  fellow  tenant  of  the  woods,  which  afford  much 
the  same  shelter  for  both ;  almost  destitute  of  arts,  ex- 
cept that  of  horribly  disfiguring  the  features,  by  the 
painful  and  disgusting  process  of  tattooing,  and  that  of 
preparing  a  rude  war-club,  with  which  he  destroys  his 
fellow-savage  of  the  neighboring  tribe, — his  natural  ene- 
my, while  he  lives,  his  food,  if  he  can  conquer  or  kid- 
nap him  ;  laying  up  no  store  of  provision,  but  one,  which 
I  scarce  dare  describe, — which  consists  in  plunging  a 
stick  into  the  water,  where  it  is  soon  eaten  to  honey- 


184  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

9 

comb  by  the  worms,  that  abound  in  tropical  climates, 
and  which,  then  taken  out,  furnishes,  in  these  worms,  a 
supply  of  their  most  favorite  food  to  these  forlorn  chil- 
dren of  Nature.  Such  is  this  creature,  from  youth  to 
age,  from  father  to  son, — a  savage,  a  cannibal,  a  brute ;  a 
human  being,  a  fellow-man,  a  rational  and  immortal  soul; 
carrying  about,  under  that  squalid,  loathsome  exterior, 
hidden  under  those  brutal  manners  and  vices,  at  once 
disgusting  and  abominable,  a  portion  of  the  intellectual 
principle,  which  likens  man  to  his  Maker. 

This  is  one  specimen  of  humanity  ;  how  shall  we  bring 
another  into  immediate  contrast  with  it  ?  How  better, 
than  by  contemplating  what  may  be  witnessed  on  board 
the  vessel,  which  carries  the  enlightened  European  or 
American  to  the  dark  and  dreary  corners  of  the  earth,  in- 
habited by  these  unhappy  fellow-beings  j1  You  there  be- 
hold a  majestic  vessel,  bounding  over  the  billows,  from 
the  other  side  of  the  globe ;  easily  fashioned  to  float,  in 
safety,  over  the  bottomless  sea  ;  to  spread  out  her  broad 
wings,  and  catch  the  midnight  breeze,  guided  by  a  sin- 
gle watchful  sailor  at  the  helm,  with  two  or  three  com- 
panions reclining  listlessly  on  the  deck,  gazing  into  the 
depths  of  the  starry  heavens.  The  commander  of  this 
vessel,  not  surpassing  thousands  of  his  brethren,  in  in- 
telligence and  skill,  knows  how,  by  pointing  his  glass  at 
the  heavens,  and  taking  an  observation  of  the  stars,  and 
turning  over  the  leaves  of  his  '  Practical  Navigator,'  and 
making  a  few  figures  on  his  slate,  to  tell  the  spot,  which 
his  vessel  has  reached,  on  the  trackless  sea :  and  he  can 
also  tell  it,  by  means  of  a  steel  spring  and  a  few  brass 
wheels,  put  together  in  the  shape  of  a  chronometer. 
The  glass,  with  which  he  brings  the  heavens  down  to 
the  earth,  and  by  which  he  measures  the  twenty-one 
thousand  six  hundredth  part  of  their  circuit,  is  made  of 
a  quantity  of  silex  and  alkali, — coarse,  opaque  substan- 
ces, which  he  has  melted  together  into  the  beautiful  me- 
dium which  excludes  the  air  and  the  rain,  and  admits 
the  light, — by  means  of  which,  he  can  count  the  orders 
of  animated  Nature  in  a  dew-drop,  and  measure  the 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  185 

depth  of  the  valleys  in  the  moon.  He  has,  running  up  and 
down  his  mainmast,  an  iron  chain,  fabricated  at  home,  by 
a  wonderful  succession  of  mechanical  contrivances,  out 
of  a  rock  brought  from  deep  caverns  in  the  earth,  and 
which  has  the  power  of  conducting  the  lightning  harm- 
lessly down  the  sides  of  the  vessel  into  the  deep.  He 
does  not  creep  timidly  along,  from  headland  to  head- 
land, nor  guide  his  course  across  a  narrow  sea,  by  the 
north  star ;  but  he  launches  bravely  on  the  pathless  and 
bottomless  deep,  and  carries  about  with  him,  in  a  box, 
a  faithful  little  pilot,  which  points,  from  the  other  side  of 
the  globe,  through  the  convex  earth,  to  the  steady  pole. 
If  he  falls  in  with  a  pirate,  he  does  not  wait  to  repel 
him,  hand  to  hand ;  but  he  puts  into  a  mighty  engine 
a  handful  of  dark  powder,  in  which  is  condensed  an 
immense  quantity  of  elastic  air,,  and  which,  when  it  is 
touched  by  a  spark  of  fire,  will  immeasurably  expand 
its  volume,  and  drive  an  artificial  thunderbolt  before  it, 
against  the  distant  enemy.  When  he  meets  another 
similar  vessel,  on  the  sea,  homeward  bound  from  an  ex- 
cursion like  his  own,  he  makes  a  few  black  marks  on  a 
piece  of  paper,  and  sends  it  home,  a  distance  of  ten 
thousand  miles  ;  and  thereby  speaks  to  his  employer,  to 
his  family,  and  his  friends,  as  distinctly  and  significant- 
ly, as  if  they  were  seated  by  his  side.  At  the  cost  of 
half,  the  labor  with  which  the  savage  procures  himself 
the  skin  of  a  wild  beast,  to  cover  his  nakedness,  this 
child  of  civilized  life  has  provided  himself  with  the  most 
substantial,  curious,  and  convenient,  clothing,  textures 
and  tissues  of  wool,  cotton,  linen,  and  silk,  the  contri- 
butions of  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  and  of  every 
kingdom  of  Nature.  To  fill  a  vacant  hour,  or  dispel  a 
gathering  cloud  from  his  spirits,  he  has  curious  instru- 
ments of  music,  which  speak  another  language,  of  new 
and  strange  significance,  to  his  heart ;  which  make  his 
veins  thrill,  and  his  eyes  overflow  with  tears,  without  the 
utterance  of  a  word ;  and,  with  a  sweet  succession  of 
harmonious  sounds,  send  his  heart  back,  over  the  waste 
of  waters,  to  the  distant  home,  where  his  wife  and  his 
16* 


186  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

children  are  gathered  around  the  fireside,  trembling  at 
the  thought,  that  the  storm,  which  beats  upon  the  win- 
dows, may  perhaps  overtake  their  beloved  voyager  on 
the  distant  seas.  And,  in  his  cabin,  he  has  a  library  of 
volumes,  the  strange  production  of  a  machine  of  almost 
magical  powers,  which,  as  he  turns  over  their  leaves, 
enable  him  to  converse  with  the  great  and  good  of  eve- 
ry clime  and  age,  and  which  even  repeat  to  him,  in 
audible  notes,  the  laws  of  his  God  and  the  promises  of 
his  Saviour,  and  point  out  to  him  that  happy  land  which 
he  hopes  to  reach,  when  his  flag  is  struck,  and  his  sails 
are  furled,  and  the  voyage  of  life  is  over. 

The  imaginations  of  those,  whom  I  have  the  honor 
to  address,  will  be  able  to  heighten  this  contrast,  by  a 
hundred  traits,  on  either  side,  for  which  I  have  not 
time  ;  but,  even  as  I  have  presented  it,  will  it  be  deem- 
ed extravagant,  if  I  say  that  there  is  a  greater  differ- 
ence between  the  educated  child  of  civilized  life  and 
the  most  degraded  savage,  than  between  that  savage 
and  the  orang  outang?  And  yet  the  savage  was  born 
a  rational  being,  like  the  civilized  European  and  Ameri- 
can ;  and  the  civilized  European  and  American  entered 
life,  like  the  savage,  a  helpless,  wailing  babe. 

This,  then,  is  the  difference,  made  by  education.  I 
do  not  mean,  that,  if  a  school  were  set  up  in  New  Zea- 
land, you  could  convert  the  rising  generation  of  sauage 
children,  in  eight  or  ten  years,  into  a  civilized,  well- 
educated,  orderly  society.  I  will  not  undertake  to  say, 
what  could  be  done  with  an  individual  of  that  race, 
taken  at  birth,  and  brought  to  a  Christian  country,  and 
there  reared  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances ; 
nor  do  I  know  into  what  sort  of  a  being  one  of  our 
children  would  grow  up,  supposing  it  could  survive  the 
experiment,  were  it  taken  from  the  nurse's  arms,  and 
put  in  charge  to  a  tribe  of  New  Zealanders.  But  it  is, 
upon  the  whole,  education,  in  the  most  comprehensive 
sense,  which,  in  the  lapse  of  time,  makes  the  vast  differ- 
ence which  I  have  endeavored  to  illustrate,  and  which 
actually,  in  the  case  of  a  civilized  person,  transforms  his 


EDUCATION  OP  MANKIND.  187 

intellect,  from  what  it  is  at  birth,  into  what  it  becomes 
in  the  mature,  consummate  man. 

These  reflections  teach  us,  what  education  ordinarily 
accomplishes.  They  illustrate  its  power,  as  measured 
by  its  effects.  Let  us  now  make  a  single  remark  on  its 
prodigious  efficacy,  measured  by  the  shortness  of  the 
time,  within  which  it  produces  its  wonders.  When  we 
contemplate  the  vast  amount  of  the  arts,  useful  and 
mechanical,  elegant  and  literary  ;  the  sciences,  pure  and 
mixed,  and  of  the  knowledge,  practical  and  speculative, 
belonging  to  them ;  a  portion  of  which,  sometimes  a 
very  large  portion,  is  within  the  command  of  any  well- 
educated  person  ;  the  wonder  we  should  naturally  feel 
may  be  a  little  abated,  by  the  consideration,  that  this  is 
the  accumulated  product  of  several  thousand  years  of 
study,  the  fruits  of  which  have  been  recorded,  or  trans- 
mitted by  tradition  from  age  to  age.  But,  when  we 
reflect  again  upon  the  subject,  we  find,  that,  though 
this  knowledge  has  been,  for  four  or  five  thousand 
years,  in  the  process  of  accumulation,  and  consists  of 
the  condensed  contributions  of  great  and  gifted  minds, 
or  of  the  mass  of  average  intellect,  transmitted  from 
race  to  race,  since  the  dawn  of  letters  and  arts  in  Phoe- 
nicia and  Egypt,  it  is  nevertheless  mastered  by  each  in- 
dividual, if  at  all,  in  the  compass  of  a  few  years.  It  is 
in  the  world,  but  it  is  not  inherited  by  any  one.  Men 
are  born  rich,  but  not  learned.  The  La  Place  of  this 
generation  did  not  come  into  life,  with  the  knowledge 
possessed  and  recorded  by  the  Newtons,  the  Keplers, 
and  the  Pythagorases  of  other  days.  It  is  doubtful, 
whether,  at  three  years  old,  he  could  count  much  be- 
yond ten ;  and  if,  at  six,  he  was  acquainted  with  any 
other  cycloidal  curves  than  those  generated  by  the 
trundling  of  his  hoop,  he  was  a  prodigy,  indeed.  But, 
by  the  time  he  was  twenty-one,  he  had  mastered  all  the 
discoveries  of  all  the  philosophers  who  preceded  him, 
and  was  prepared  to  build  upon  them  the  splendid 
superstructure  of  his  own.  In  like  manner,  the  whole 
race  of  men,  who,  thirty  years  hence,  are  to  be  the  ac- 


188  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

live  members  of  society,  and  some  of  them  its  guides 
and  leaders, — its  Mansfields  and  Burkes,  its  Ellsworths, 
Marshalls,  and  Websters, — the  entire  educated  and  in- 
telligent population,  which  will  have  prepared  itself 
with  the  knowledge  requisite  for  carrying  on  the  busi- 
ness of  life,  is,  at  this  moment,  enacting  the  part  of 

"the  whining  school-boy,  with  his  satchel 

And  shining  morning  face,  creeping,  like  snail, 
Unwillingly  to  school." 

Our  future  Ciceros  are  mewling  infants ;  and  our  Ark- 
wrights  and  Fultons,  who  are  hereafter  to  unfold  to  our 
children  new  properties  of  matter,  new  forces  of  the 
elements,  new  applications  of  the  mechanical  powers, 
which  may  change  the  condition  of  things,  are  now, 
under  the  tuition  of  a  careful  nurse,  with  the  safeguard 
of  a  pair  of  leading  strings,  attempting  the  perilous  ex- 
periment of  putting  one  foot  before  the  other.  Yes, 
the  ashes  that  now  moulder  in  yonder  grave-yard,  the 
sole  remains,  on  earth,  of  what  was  Whitney,*  are  not 
more  unconscious  of  the  stretch  of  the  mighty  mind, 
which  they  once  enclosed,  than  the  infant  understand- 
ings of  those,  now  springing  into  life,  who  are  destined 
to  follow  in  the  luminous  track  of  his  genius,  to  new 
and  still  more  brilliant  results,  in  the  service  of  man  ! 

When  we  consider,  in  this  way,  how  much  is  effect- 
ed by  education,  and  in  how  short  a  time,  for  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  community,  and  thence  deduce  some 
not  inadequate  conception  of  its  prodigious  efficiency 
and  power,  we  are  irresistibly  led  to  another  reflection 
upon  its  true  nature.  We  feel  that  it  cannot  be  so 
much  an  act  of  the  teacher,  as  an  act  of  the  pupil.  It 
is  not,  that  the  master,  possessing  this  knowledge,  has 
poured  it  out  of  his  own  rnind  into  that  of  the  learner ; 
but  the  learner,  by  the  native  power  of  apprehension, 
judiciously  trained  and  wisely  disciplined,  beholds,  com- 
prehends, and  appropriates,  what  is  set  before  him,  in 

*Eli  Whitney,  the  inventor  of  the  cotton-gin,  died  January  8,  1825, 
and  was  buried  at  New  Haven.  A  memoir  of  him  will  be  found  in  a 
subsequent  volume  of 'THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY.' 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  189 

form  and  order;  and  not  only  so,  but,  with  the  first 
quickenings  of  the  intellect,  commences,  himself,  the 
creative  and  inventive  processes.  There  is  not  the 
least  doubt,  that  the  active  mind,  judiciously  trained, 
in  reality  sometimes  invents,  for  itself,  not  a  little  of  that 
which,  being  already  previously  known  and  recorded,  is 
regarded  as  a  part  of  the  existing  stock  of  knowledge. 
From  this  principle,  also,  we  are  led  to  an  easy  explana- 
tion of  those  curious  appearances  of  simultaneous  dis- 
coveries, in  art  and  science,  of  which  literary  history 
records  many  examples, — such  as  the  rival  pretensions 
of  Newton  and  Leibnitz,  of  Priestley  and  Lavoisier,  of 
Bell  and  Lancaster,  of  Young  and  Champollion, — which 
show,  that,  at  any  given  period,  especially  in  a  state  of 
society  favorable  to  the  rapid  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
the  laws  of  the  human  mind  are  so  sure  and  regular, 
that  it  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  for  different  persons, 
in  different  countries,  to  fall  into  the  same  train  of  re- 
flection and  thought,  and  to  come  to  results  and  dis- 
coveries, which,  injuriously  limiting  the  creative  powers 
of  the  intellect,  we  are  ready  to  ascribe  to  imitation  or 
plagiarism. 

It  is,  indeed,  true,  that  one  of  the  great  secrets  of  the 
power  of  education,  in  its  application  to  large  numbers, 
is,  that  it  is  a  mutual  work.  Man  has  three  teachers, 
— the  schoolmaster,  himself,  his  neighbor.  The  in- 
structions of  the  first  two  commence  together ;  and,  long 
after  the  functions  of  the  schoolmaster  have  been  dis- 
charged, the  duties  of  the  last  two  go  on  together  ;  and 
what  they  effect  is  vastly  more  important  than  the 
work  of  the  teacher,  if  estimated  by  the  amount  of 
knowledge  self-acquired,  or  caught  by  the  collision  or 
sympathy  of  other  minds,  compared  with  that  which  is 
directly  imparted  by  the  schoolmaster,  in  the  morning 
of  life.  In  fact,  what  we  learn  at  school  and  in  college 
is  but  the  foundation  of  the  great  work  of  self-instruc- 
tion and  mutual  instruction,  with  which  the  real  educa- 
tion of  life  begins,  when  what  is  commonly  called  the 
education  is  finished.  The  daily  intercourse  of  culti- 


190  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

vated  minds  ;  the  emulous  exertions  of  the  fellow-vota- 
ries of  knowledge ;  controversy  ;  the  inspiring  sympa- 
thy of  a  curious  and  intelligent  public ; — unite  in  put- 
ting each  individual  intellect  to  the  stretch  of  its  ca- 
pacity. A  hint,  a  proposition,  an  inquiry,  proceeding 
from  one  mind,  awakens  new  trains  of  thought  in  a 
kindred  mind,  surveying  the  subject  from  other  points 
of  view,  and  with  other  habits  and  resources  of  illustra- 
tion ;  and  thus  truth  is  constantly  multiplied  and  propa- 
gated, by  the  mutual  action  and  reaction  of  the  thou- 
sands engaged  in  its  pursuit.  Hence  the  phenomena 
of  Periclean,  Augustan,  and  Medicean  ages,  and  golden 
eras  of  improvement ;  and  hence,  the  education  of  each 
individual  mind,  instead  of  being  merely  the  addition 
of  one  to  the  well-instructed  and  well-informed  mem- 
bers of  the  community,  is  the  introduction  of  another 
member  into  the  great  family  of  intellects,  eacli  of 
which  is  a  point,  not  only  bright,  but  radiant,  and 
competent  to  throw  off  the  beams  of  light  and  truth  in 
every  direction.  Mechanical  forces,  from  the  moment 
they  are  put  in  action,  by  the  laws  of  matter  grow  faint- 
er and  fainter,  till  they  are  exhausted.  With  each  new 
application,  something  of  their  intensity  is  consumed. 
It  can  only  be  kept  up,  by  a  continued  or  repeated  re- 
sort to  the  source  of  power.  Could  Archimedes  have 
found  his  place  to  stand  upon,  and  a  lever  with  which 
he  could  heave  the  earth  from  its  orbit,  the  utmost  he 
could  have  effected,  would  have  been,  to  make  it  fall, 
a  dead  weight,  into  the  sun.  Not  so,  the  intellectual 
energy.  If  wisely  exerted,  its  exercise,  instead  of  ex- 
hausting, increases  its  strength  ;  and  not  only  this,  but, 
as  it  moves  onward,  from  mind  to  mind,  it  awakens 
each  to  the  same  sympathetic,  self-propagating  action. 
The  circle  spreads,  in  every  direction.  Diversity  of 
language  does  not  check  the  progress  of  the  great  in- 
structer,  for  he  speaks  in  other  tongues,  and  gathers 
new  powers  from  the  response  of  other  schools  of  civ- 
ilization. The  pathless  ocean  does  not  impede,  it 
accelerates,  his  progress.  Space  imposes  no  barrier 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  191 

time  no  period,  to  his  efforts ;  and  ages  on  ages  after 
the  poor  clay,  in  which  the  creative  intellect  was  en- 
shrined, lias  mouldered  back  to  its  kindred  dust,  the 
truths  which  it  has  unfolded,  moral  or  intellectual,  are 
holding  on  their  pathway  of  light  and  glory,  awakening 
other  minds  to  the  same  heavenly  career. 

But  it  is  more  than  time  to  apply  these  principles  to 
the  condition  of  the  world,  as  it  now  exists,  and  to  in- 
quire, what  hope  there  is,  in  the  operation  of  this  migh- 
ty engine,  of  a  great  and  beneficial  progress,  in  the 
work  of  civilization. 

We  certainly  live  in  an  enlightened  age ;  one,  in 
which  civilization  has  reached  a  high  point  of  advance- 
ment and  extension,  in  this  and  several  other  countries. 
There  are  several  nations,  besides  our  own,  where  the 
Christian  religion,  civil  government,  the  usual  branches 
of  industry,  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  useful  and  or- 
namental, and  of  the  fine  arts,  have  done  and  are  doing 
great  things  for  the  happiness  of  man.  But,  when  we 
look  a  little  more  nearly,  it  must  be  confessed,  that, 
with  all  that  has  been  done  in  this  cause,  the  work, 
which  still  remains  to  be  accomplished,  is  very  great. 
The  population  of  the  globe  is  assumed,  in  the  more  mod- 
erate estimates,  to  be  seven  hundred  millions.  Of  these, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  are  set  down  for  Amer- 
ica and  Europe,  and  the  residue  for  Asia  and  Africa. 
Two  hundred  and  fifty  riiillions,  again,  are  assumed  to 
be  Christians  ;  and  of  the  residue,  three  fourths  are  Pa- 
gans. There  is  certainly  a  considerable  diversity  of 
condition  among  the  various  Asiatic  and  African,  who 
are  also  the  unchristianized,  races,  as  there  is  also 
among  the  European  and  American,  who  belong  to  the 
family  of  civilization  and  Christianity.  But,  upon,  the 
whole,  it  must  be  admitted,  that  about  two  thirds  of 
mankind  are  without  the  pale  of  civilization,  as  we  un- 
derstand it ;  and  of  these,  a  large  majority  are  pagan 
savages,  or  the  slaves  of  the  most  odious  and  oppres- 
sive despotisms.  The  Chinese  and  Hindoos,  who  make 
up  two  thirds  of  this  division  of  mankind,  contain, 


192  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

within  their  vast  masses,  perhaps  the  most  favorable 
specimens  of  this  portion  of  the  human  family  ;  anil  if 
we  turn  from  them  to  the  Turks,  the  Tartars,  the  Per- 
sians, the  native  races  of  the  interior  of  Africa,  the 
wretched  tribes  on  the  coast,  or  the  degraded  popula- 
tion of  Australia  or  Polynesia,  we  shall  find  but  little, 
(except  in  the  recent  successful  attempts  at  civilization,) 
on  which  the  eye  of  the  philanthropist  can  rest,  with 
satisfaction.  Almost  all  is  dark,  cheerless,  and  wretched. 

Nor,  when  we  look  into  what  is  called  the  civilized 
portion  of  the  globe,  is  the  prospect  as  much  improved 
as  we  could  wish.  The  broad  mantle  of  civilization, 
like  that  of  charity,  covers  much,  which,  separate- 
ly viewed,  could  claim  no  title  to  the  name.  Not  to 
speak  of  the  native  tribes  of  America,  or  the  nomadic 
races  of  the  Russian  empire,  how  vast  and  perilous  is 
the  inequality  of  mental  condition  among  the  members 
of  the  civilized  states  of  the  earth !  Contemplate  the 
peasantry  of  the  greater  part  of  the  north  of  Europe, 
attached,  as  property,  to  the  soil  on  which  they  were 
born.  The  same  class,  in  some  parts  of  the  Austrian 
dominions,  in  Spain,  in  Portugal,  if  not  held  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  state  of  political  disability,  are  probably 
to  a  very  slight  degree  more  improved,  in  their  mental 
condition.  In  the  middle  and  western  states  of  Europe, 
— France,  Holland,  Germany,  and  Great  Britain, — al- 
though the  laboring  population  is  certainly  in  a  more 
elevated  and  happier  state,  than  in  the  countries  just 
named,  yet  how  little  opportunity  for  mental  improve- 
ment do  even  they  possess !  We  know  that  they  pass 
their  lives  in  labors  of  the  most  unremitted  character, 
from  which  they  derive  nothing,  but  the  means  of  a 
mosl  scanty  support ;  constantly  relapsing  into  want,  at 
the  slightest  reverse  of  fortune,  or  on  the  occurrence  of 
the  first  severe  casualty. 

Then  consider  the  character  of  a.  large  portion  of  the 
population  of  the  great  cities  of  all  countries, — London, 
St.  Petersburg,  Vienna  ;  where  the  extremes  of  human 
condition  stand  in  painful  juxtaposition ;  and,  by  the 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  193 

side  of  some  specimens  of  all  that  adorns  and  exalts 
humanity, — the  glory  of  our  species, — we  find  the  large 
mass  of  the  population  profoundly  ignorant  and  miser- 
ably poor,  and  no  small  part  of  it  sunk  to  the  depths 
of  want  and  vice.  It  is  painful  to  reflect,  in  this  age 
of  refinement,  how  near  the  two  opposite  conditions  of 
our  nature  may  be  brought,  without  the  least  commu- 
nication of  a  direct  genial  influence  from  one  to  the 
other.  If  any  thing  were  necessary,  beyond  the  slight- 
est inspection  of  obvious  facts,  to  show  the  artificial 
structure  of  the  society  in  which  we  live,  and  the  need 
of  some  great  and  generous  process  of  renovation,  it 
would  be  the  reflection,  that,  if  a  man  wished  to  ex- 
plore the  very  abyss  of  human  degradation,  to  find  how 
low  one  could  get  in  the  scale  of  nature,  without  going 
beneath  the  human  race ;  if  he  wished  to  find  every 
want,  every  pang,  every  vice,  which  can  unite  to  con- 
vert a  human  being  into  a  suffering,  loathsome  brute  ; 
he  would  not  have  to  wander  to  the  cannibal  tribes  of 
Australia,  already  described,  nor  to  the  dens  of  the  bush- 
men  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  He  would  need  only 
to  take  a  ten  steps'  walk  from  Westminster  Abbey,  or 
strike  off  for  half  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  in  almost  any  di- 
rection, from  the  very  focus  of  all  that  is  elegant  and 
refined,  the  pride  and  happiness  of  life,  in  London  or 
Paris. 

The  painful  impressions,  produced  by  these  melan- 
choly truths,  are  increased  by  the  consideration,  that, 
in  some  parts  of  the  region  of  civilization,  the  cause  of 
the  mind  has  seemed  to  go  backward.  Who  can  think 
of  the  former  condition  of  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  not  feel  a  momentary  anxiety  for  the  fortunes 
of  the  race  ?  In  ancient  times,  the  shores  of  the  Med- 
iterranean, all  around,  were  civilized,  after  the  type  of 
that  day,  flourishing  and  happy.  In  this  favored  re- 
gion, the  human  mind  was  developed,  in  many  of  its 
faculties,  to  an  extent  and  with  a  beauty,  never  sur- 
passed, and  scarcely  ever  equalled.  Greece  was  the 
metropolis  of  this  great  intellectual  republic ;  and, 
17  E.  E 


194  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

through  her  letters  and  her  arts,  extended  the  domain 
of  civilization  to  Asia  Minor  and  Syria,  to  Egypt  and 
Africa,  to  Italy  and  Sicily,  and  even  to  Gallia  and  Ibe- 
ria. What  a  state  of  the  world  it  was.  when  all  around 
this  wide  circuit,  whithersoever  the  traveller  directed 
his  steps,  he  found  cities,  filled  with  the  beautiful  crea- 
tions of  the  architect  and  the  sculptor ;  marble  temples, 
in  the  grandest  dimensions  and  finest  proportions ; 
statues,  whose  poor  and  mutilated  fragments  are  the 
models  of  modern  art!  Wheresoever  he  sojourned, 
he  found  the  schools  of  philosophy  crowded  with  disci- 
ples, and  heard  the  theatres  ringing  with  the  inspira- 
tions of  the  Attic  muse,  and  the  forum  eloquent  with 
orators  of  consummate  skill  and  classic  renown.  We 
are  too  apt,  in  forming  our  notions  of  the  height  of 
Grecian  civilization,  to  confine  our  thoughts  to  a  few 
renowned  cities,  or  to  Athens,  alone.  But  not  only 
Greece,  but  the  islands,  Sicily  and  Magna  Graecia, 
round  all  their  coasts,  the  Ionian  shore,  the  remote 
interior  of  Asia  Minor  and  Syria  almost  to  the  Eu- 
phrates, the  entire  course  of  the  Nile  up  to  its  cataracts, 
and  Libya  far  into  the  desert,  were  filled  with  populous 
and  cultivated  cities.  Places,  whose  names  can  scarce- 
ly be  traced,  but  in  an  index  of  ancient  geography, 
abounded  in  all  the  stores  of  art,  and  all  the  resources 
of  instruction,  in  the  time  of  Cicero.  He  makes  one 
of  the  chief  speakers  in  the  Orator  say,  "  At  the  pres- 
ent day,  all  Asia  imitates  Menecles  of  Alabanda,  and 
his  brother," — orator,  brother,  and  place,  now  alike  for- 
gotten !  Cicero  himself  studied,  not  only  under  Philo 
the  Athenian,  but  Milo  the  Rhodian,  Menippus  of 
Stratonice,  Dionysius  of  Magnesia,  ^Eschylus  of  Cnidus, 
and  Xenocles  of  Adramyttium.  These  were  the  mas- 
ters, the  schools,  of  Cicero  !  Forgotten  names,  perish- 
ed cities,  abodes  of  art  and  eloquence,  of  which  the 
memory  is  scarcely  preserved ! 

What,  then,  is  the  hope,  that  much  can  be  effected, 
in  the  promotion  of  the  great  object  of  the  improvement 
of  man,  by  the  instrumentality  of  education,  as  we  have 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  195 

described  it  ?  And  here,  I  am  willing  to  own  myself 
an  enthusiast ;  and  all  I  ask  is,  that  men  will  have  the 
courage  to  follow  the  light  of  general  principles,  and 
patience  for  great  effects  to  flow  from  mighty  causes. 
If.  after  establishing  the  great  truths  of  the  prodigious 
power  of  the  principles,  by  which  the  education  of  the 
world  is  to  be  achieved,  men  suffer  themselves  to  be 
perplexed  by  apparent  exceptions;  and  especially,  if 
they  will  insist  upon  beginning,  carrying  on,  and  com- 
pleting, themselves,  every  thing  which  they  propose  or 
conceive  for  human  improvement,  forgetful  that  human- 
ity, religion,  national  character,  literature,  and  the  in- 
fluence of  the  arts,  are  great  concerns,  spreading  out 
over  a  lapse  of  ages,  and  infinite  in  their  perfectibility ; 
then,  indeed,  the  experience  of  one  short  life  can  teach 
nothing  but  despair. 

But,  if  we  will  do  justice  to  the  power  of  the  great 
principles,  which  I  have  attempted  to  develope,  that  are 
at  work  for  the  education  of  man ;  if  we  will  study  the 
causes,  which,  in  other  times,  have  retarded  his  progress, 
which  seem,  in  some  large  portions  of  the  globe,  to 
doom  him,  even  now,  to  hopeless  barbarity ;  and  if  we 
will  duly  reflect,  that  what  seems  to  be  a  retrograde  step, 
in  the  march  of  civilization,  is  sometimes  (as  most  mem- 
orably in  the  downfall  of  the  Roman  empire)  the  pecu- 
liar instrumentality,  with  which  a  still  more  comprehen- 
sive work  of  reform  is  carried  on,  we  shall  have  ample 
reason  to  conceive  the  brightest  hopes  for  the  progress 
of  our  race  ;  for  the  introduction,  within  the  pale  of  civ- 
ilization, of  its  benighted  regions,  and  the  effective  re- 
generation of  all. 

We  have  now  in  our  possession,  three  instruments 
of  civilization,  unknown  to  antiquity,  of  power  separ- 
ately to  work  almost  any  miracle  of  improvement,  and 
the  united  force  of  which  is  adequate  to  the  achieve- 
ment of  any  thing,  not  morally  and  physically  impossi- 
ble. These  are,  the  art  of  printing,  a  sort  of  mechan- 
ical magic  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge ;  free  repre- 
sentative government,  a  perpetual  regulator  and  equal- 


196  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

izer  of  human  condition,  the  inequalities  of  which  are 
the  great  scourge  of  society ;  and,  lastly,  a  pure  and 
spiritual  religion,  the  deep  fountain  of  generous  enthusi- 
asm, the  mighty  spring  of  bold  and  lofty  designs,  the  great 
sanctuary  of  moral  power.  The  want  of  one  or  all  of 
these  satisfactorily  explains  the  vicissitudes  of  the  ancient 
civilization  ;  and  the  possession  of  them  all  as  satisfacto- 
rily assures  the  permanence  of  that,  which  has  been,  for 
some  centuries,  and  is  now,  going  on,  and  warrants  the 
success  of  the  great  work  of  educating  the  world.  Does 
any  one  suppose,  that,  if  knowledge  among  the  Greeks, 
instead  of  being  confined  to  the  cities,  and,  in  them,  to  a 
few  professional  sophists  and  rich  slave-holders,  had 
pervaded  the  entire  population,  in  that  and  the  neighbor- 
ing countries,  as  it  is  made  to  do,  in  modern  times,  by  the 
press ;  if,  instead  of  their  anomalous,  ill-balanced,  tumul- 
tuary democracies  and  petty  military  tyrannies,  they  had 
been  united,  in  a  well-digested  system  of  representative 
government,  they  and  the  states  around  them,  Persia, 
Macedonia,  and  Rome ;  and  if,  to  all  these  principles 
of  political  stability,  they  had,  instead  of  their  corrupt- 
ing and  degrading  superstitions,  been  blessed  with  the 
light  of  a  pure  and  spiritual  faith ; — does  any  one  sup- 
pose that  Greece  and  Ionia,  under  circumstances  like 
these,  would  have  relapsed  into  barbarism  ?  Impossible. 
The  Phoenicians  invented  letters,  but  what  did  they  do 
with  them?  Apply  them  to  the  record,  the  diffusion, 
transmission,  and  preservation,  of  knowledge  ?  Un- 
happily for  them,  that  was  the  acquisition  of  a  far  subse- 
quent period.  The  wonderful  invention  of  alphabetical 
writing,  to  some  extent  at  least,  was  probably  applied 
by  its  authors  to  no  other  purpose,  than  to  carve  the 
name  of  a  king  on  his  rude  statue,  or  perhaps  to  record 
some  simple  catalogue  of  titles  on  the  walls  of  a  temple. 
So  it  was  with  the  Egyptians,  whose  hieroglyphics  have 
recently  been  discovered  to  be  an  alphabetical  character ; 
but  which  were  far  too  cumbrous,  to  be  employed  for 
an  extensive  and  popular  diffusion  of  knowledge ;  and 
which,  with  all  the  wisdom  of  their  inventors,  are  not 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  197 

certainly  known  to  have  been  applied  to  the  composi- 
tion of  books.  It  was  the  freer  use  of  this  flexible  in- 
strument of  knowledge,  which  gave  to  Greece  her  emi- 
nence ;  which  created  so  many  of  the  objects  of  her 
national  pride ;  and  redeemed  the  memory  of  her  dis- 
tinguished sons,  from  that  forgetfulness  which  has 
thrown  its  vast  pall  over  the  great  and  brave  men  and 
noble  deeds,  of  the  mighty  but  unlettered  states  of 
antiquity.  No  one  thinks  that  the  powerful  and  pros- 
perous nations  which  flourished,  for  two  thousand  years, 
on  the  Nile  and  the  Euphrates,  were  destitute  of  heroes, 
patriots,  and  statesmen.  But,  for  want  of  a  popular  lit- 
erature, their  merits  and  fame  did  not,  at  the  time,  in- 
corporate themselves  with  the  popular  character ;  and 
now  that  they  are  no  more,  their  memory  lies  crushed, 
with  their  ashes  beneath  their  mausoleums  and  pyramids. 
The  mighty  cities  they  built,  the  seats  of  their  power, 
are  as  desolate  as  the  cities  they  wasted.  The  races 
of  men  whom  they  ruled  and  arrayed  in  battle,  bound 
in  an  iron  servitude,  degraded  by  mean  superstitions, 
sunk  before  the  first  invader  ;  and  now,  the  very  lan- 
guages, on  whose  breath  their  glory  was  wafted  from 
Atlas  to  the  Indus,  are  lost  and  forgotten,  because 
they  were  never  impressed  on  the  undying  page  of  a 
written  literature. 

The  more  diffusive  and  popular  nature  of  the  Grecian 
literature  was  evidently  the  cause  of  the  preservation 
of  the  national  spirit  of  the  Greeks,  and  with  it,  of  their 
political  existence.  Greece,  it  is  true,  fell,  and  with  it, 
the  civilization  of  the  ancient  world.  In  this,  it  may 
seem  to  present  us,  rather  an  illustration  of  the  ineffi- 
ciency, than  of  the  power,  of  the  preservative  principle 
of  letters.  But  let  us  bear  in  mind,  in  the  first  place, 
that,  greatly  as  the  Greeks  excelled  the  Eastern  nations 
in  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  they  yet  fell  infinitely 
below  the  modern  world,  furnished,  as  it  is,  with  the 
all-efficacious  art  of  printing.  Still  more,  let  us  recol- 
lect, that,  if  Greece,  in  her  fall,  affords  an  example  of 
the  insufficiency  of  the  ancient  civilization,  her  long, 


198  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

glorious,  and  never  wholly  unsuccessful,  struggles,  and 
her  recent  recovery  from  barbarism,  furnish  the  most 
pleasing  proof,  that  there  is  a  life-spring  of  immortality 
in  the  combined  influence  of  letters,  freedom,  and  relig- 
ion. Greece  indeed  fell.  But  how  did  she  fall  ?  Did 
she  fall  like  Babylon  ?  Did  she  fall  "  like  Lucifer,  nev- 
er to  hope  again  ?"  Or,  did  she  not  rather  go  down 
like  that  brighter  luminary,  of  which  Lucifer  is  but  the 
herald  ? 

"  So  sinks  the  Day-star  in  the  ocean's  bed, 
And  yet  anon  repairs  his  drooping  head, 
And  tricks  his  beams,  and,  with  new-spangled  ore, 
Flames  in  the  forehead  of  the  morning  sky." 

What,  but  the  ever  living  power  of  literature  and  re- 
ligion, preserved  the  light  of  civilization  and  the  intel- 
lectual stores  of  the  past,  undiminished  in  Greece,  du- 
ring the  long  and  dreary  ages  of  the  decline  and  down- 
fall of  the  Roman  empire  ?  What  preserved  these  sterile 
provinces  and  petty  islets  from  sinking,  beyond  redemp- 
tion, in  the  gulf  of  barbarity,  in  which  Cyrene,  and 
Egypt,  and  Syria,  were  swallowed  up  ?  It  was  Chris- 
tianity and  letters,  retreating  to  their  fastnesses  on  moun- 
tain tops,  and  in  secluded  valleys, — the  heights  of  Athos, 
the  peaks  of  Meteora,  the  caverns  of  Arcadia,  the  se- 
cluded cells  of  Patmos.  Here,  while  all  else  in  the 
world  seemed  swept  away,  by  one  general  flood  of 
barbarism,  civil  discord,  and  military  oppression,  the 
Greek  monks  of  the  dark  ages  preserved  and  transcrib- 
ed their  Homers,  their  Platos,  and  their  Plutarchs. 
There  never  was,  strictly  speaking,  a  dark  age  in  Greece. 
Eustathius  wrote  his  commentaries  on  Homer,  in  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century.  That,  surely,  if  ev- 
er, was  the  midnight  of  the  mind ;  but  it  was  clear 
and  serene  day  in  his  learned  cell ;  and  Italy,  proud  al- 
ready of  her  Dante,  her  Boccaccio  and  Petrarch,  her 
Medicean  patronage  and  her  reviving  arts,  did  not  think 
it  beneath  her,  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  the  poor  fugitives 
from  the  final  downfall  of  Constantinople. 

What,  but  the  same  causes,  enforced  by  the  power 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  199 

of  the  press,  and  by  the  sympathy  with  Greece,  which 
pervaded  the  educated  community  of  the  modern  world, 
has  accomplished  the  political  restoration  of  that  Coun- 
try ?  Thirteen  years  ago,  it  lay  under  a  hopeless  des- 
potism :  its  native  inhabitants,  as  such,  marked  out  for 
oppression  and  plunder ;  tolerated  in  their  religion  for 
the  sake  of  the  exactions,  of  which  it  furnished  the  oc- 
casion ;  shut  out  from  the  hopes  and  honors  of  social 
life  ;  agriculture,  and  all  the  visible  and  tangible  means 
of  acquisition,  discountenanced  ;  commerce,  instead  of 
lifting  her  honored  front,  like  an  ocean  queen,  as  she 
does  here,  creeping,  furtively,  from  islet  to  islet,  and 
concealing  her  precarious  gains  ;  the  seas  infested  with 
pirates,  and  the  land  with  robbers ;  the  population  ex- 
hibiting a  strange  mixture  of  the  virtues  of  the  bandit 
and  the  vices  of  the  slave,  but  possessing,  in  generous 
transmission  from  better  days,  some  elements  of  a  free 
and  enlightened  community.  Such  was  Greece,  thir- 
teen years  ago ;  and  the  prospect  of  throwing  off  the 
Turkish  yoke,  in  every  respect  but  this  last,  was  as 
wild  and  chimerical,  as  the  effort  to  throw  off  the  Cor- 
dilleras from  this  continent.  In  all  respects  but  one,  it 
would  have  been  as  reasonable  to  expect  to  raise  a 
harvest  of  grain  from  the  barren  rock  of  Hydra,  as  to 
found  a  free  and  prosperous  state  in  this  abject  Turk- 
ish province.  But  the  standard  of  liberty  was  raised  on 
the  soil  of  Greece,  by  the  young  men  who  returned  from 
the  universities  of  western  Europe,  and  the  civilized 
world  was  cheered  at  the  tidings.  It  was  the  birth- 
place of  the  arts,  the  cradle  of  letters.  Reasons  of  state 
held  back  the  governments  of  Europe  and  of  America 
from  an  interference  in  their  favor,  but  intellectual 
sympathy,  religious  and  moral  feeling,  and  the  public 
opinion  of  the  age,  rose,  in  their  might,  and  swept  all 
the  barriers  of  state  logic  away.  They  were  feeble, 
unarmed,  without  organization,  distracted  by  feuds  ;  an 
adamantine  wall  of  neutrality  on  the  west ;  an  incensed 
barbarian  empire,  horde  after  horde,  from  the  confines 
of  Anatolia  to  the  cataracts  of  the  Nile,  pouring  down 


200  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

upon  them,  on  the  east.  Their  armies  and  their  navies 
were  a  mockery  of  military  power ;  their  resources,  cal- 
culated to  inspire  rather  commiseration  than  fear.  But 
their  spirits  were  sustained,  and  their  wearied  hands 
upheld,  by  the  benedictions  and  the  succors  of  the 
friends  of  freedom.  The  memory  of  their  great  men 
of  old  went  before  them  to  battle,  and  scattered  dis- 
may in  the  ranks  of  the  barbarous  foe,  as  he  moved, 
with  uneasy  steps,  over  the  burning  soil  of  freedom. 
The  sympathy  of  all  considerate  arid  humane  persons 
was  enlisted  in  behalf  of  the  posterity,  however  degen- 
erate, of  those  who  had  taught  letters  and  humanity  to 
the  world.  Men  could  not  bear,  with  patience,  that 
Christian  people,  striking  for  liberty,  should  be  tramp- 
led down  by  barbarian  infidels,  on  the  soil  of  Attica 
and  Sparta.  The  public  opinion  of  the  world  was  en- 
listed on  their  side ;  and  Liberty  herself,  personified, 
seemed  touched  with  compassion,  as  she  heard  the  cry 
of  her  venerated  parent,  the  guardian  genius  of  Greece. 
She  hastened  to  realize  the  holy  legend  of  the  Roman 
daughter,  and  send  back  from  her  pure  bosom  the  tide 
of  life  to  the  wasting  form  of  her  parent : 

"  The  milk  of  his  own  gift  ; — it  is  her  sire 
To  whom  she  renders  back  the  debt  of  blood, 
Born  with  her  birth  ; — no,  he  shall  not  expire." 

Greece  did  not  expire.  The  sons  of  Greece  caught 
new  life  from  desperation ;  the  plague  of  the  Turkish 
arms  was  stayed  ;  till  the  governments  followed,  where 
the  people  had  led  the  way,  and  the  war,  which  was 
sustained  by  the  literary  and  religious  sympathies  of  the 
friends  of  art  and  science,  was  brought  to  a  triumphant 
close,  by  the  armies  and  navies  of  Europe :  and  there 
they  now  stand,  the  first  great  reconquest  of  modern 
civilization. 

Many,  I  doubt  not,  who  hear  me,  have  had  the  pleas- 
ure, within  a  few  weeks,  of  receiving  a  (jreek  oration, 
pronounced  in  the  temple  of  Theseus,  on  the  reception, 
at  Athens,  of  the  first  official  act  of  the  young  Christian 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  201 

prince,  under  whom,  the  government  of  this  interesting 
country  is  organized.  What  contemplations  does  it  not 
awaken,  to  behold  a  youthful  Bavarian  prince  deputed 
by  the  great  powers  of  Europe  to  go,  with  the  guaran- 
ties of  letters,  religion,  and  the  arts,  to  the  city  of  Mi- 
nerva, which  had  reached  the  summit  of  human  civili- 
zation, ages  before  Bavaria  had  emerged  from  the  depths 
of  the  Black  Forest !  One  can  almost  imagine  the  shades 
of  the  great  of  other  days,  the  patriots  and  warriors,  the 
philosophers  and  poets,  the  historians  and  orators,  rising 
from  their  renowned  graves,  to  greet  the  herald  of  their 
country's  restoration.  One  can  almost  fancy,  that  the 
sacred  dust  of  the  Ceramicus  must  kindle  into  life,  as 
he  draws  near ;  that  the  sides  of  Delphi  and  Parnassus, 
and  the  banks  of  the  Ilissus,  must  swarm  with  the  re- 
turning spirits  of  ancient  times.  Yes !  Marathon  and 
Thermopylae  are  moved  to  meet  him,  at  his  coming. 
Martyrs  of  liberty,  names  that  shall  never  die, — Solon 
and  Pericles,  Socrates  and  Phocion,  not  now  with  their 
cups  of  hemlock  in  their  hands,  but  with  the  deep  lines 
of  their  living  cares  effaced  from  their  serene  brows, — 
at  the  head  of  that  glorious  company  of  poets,  sages, 
artists,  and  heroes,  which  the  world  has  never  equalled, 
descend  the  famous  road  from  the  Acropolis  to  the  sea, 
to  bid  the  deliverer  welcome  to  the  land  of  glory  and 
the  arts.  "  Remember,"  they  cry,  "  O  Prince  !  the  land 
thou  art  set  to  rule  ;  it  is  the  soil  of  freedom.  Remem- 
ber the  great  and  wise  of  old,  in  whose  place  thou  art 
called  to  stand,  the  fathers  of  liberty ;  remember  the 
precious  blood  which  has  wet  these  sacred  fields ;  pity 
the  bleeding  remnants  of  what  was  once  so  grand  and 
fair  ;  respect  these  time-worn  and  venerable  ruins  ;  raise 
up  the  fallen  columns  of  these  beautiful  fanes,  and  con- 
secrate them  to  the  Heavenly  Wisdom  ;  restore  the  ban- 
ished Muses  to  their  native  seat ;  be  the  happy  instru- 
ment, in  the  hand  of  Heaven,  of  enthroning  letters,  and 
liberty,  and  religion,  on  the  summits  of  our  ancient  hills ; 
and  pay  back  the  -debt  of  the  civilized  world  to  reviving, 
regenerated  Greece.  So  shall  the  blessing  of  those 


202  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

ready  to  perish  come  upon  thee,  and  ages  after  the  vul- 
gar train  of  conquerors  and  princes  is  forgotten,  thou  shalt 
be  remembered,  as  the  youthful  restorer  of  Greece  !" 

This  is  a  most  important  step,  in  the  extension  of  civ- 
ilization ;  what  is  to  hinder  its  further  rapid  progress,  I 
own,  I  do  not  perceive.  On  the  contrary,  it  seems  to 
me,  that  political  causes  are  in  operation,  destined,  at 
no  very  distant  period,  to  throw  open  the  whole  domain 
of  ancient  improvement  to  the  great  modern  instruments 
of  national  education, — the  press,  free  government,  and 
the  Christian  faith.  The  Ottoman  power, — a  govern- 
ment, which,  till  lately,  has  shown  itself  hostile  to  all 
improvement, — is  already  dislodged  from  its  main  po- 
sitions in  Europe,  and  may  before  long  be  removed 
from  that  which  it  still  retains.  The  Turk,  who,  four 
centuries  ago,  threatened  Italy,  and  long  since  that 
period  carried  terror  to  the  gates  of  Vienna,  will  soon 
find  it  no  easy  matter  to  sustain  himself  in  Constan- 
tinople. His  empire  is  already,  as  it  were,  encircled 
by  that  of  Russia,  a  government,  despotic,  indeed, 
but  belonging  to  the  school  of  European  civilization, 
acknowledging  the  same  law  of  nations,  connected  with 
the  intellectual  family  of  western  Europe  and  America, 
and  making  most  rapid  advances  in  the  education  of 
the  various  races  which  fill  her  vast  domain.  It  is 
true,  that  prejudices  exist  against  that  government,  at 
the  present  time,  in  the  minds  of  the  friends  of  liberal 
institutions.  But  let  it  not  be  forgotten,  that,  within 
the  last  century,  as  great  a  work  of  improvement  has 
been  carried  on  in  the  Russian  empire,  as  was  ever  ac- 
complished, in  an  equal  period,  in  the  history  of  man ; 
and  that  it  is  doubtful  whether,  in  any  other  way,  than 
through  the  medium  of  such  a  government,  the  light  of 
the  mind  could  penetrate  to  a  tenth  part  of  the  hetero- 
geneous materials,  of  which  tha!  empire  is  composed. 

It  is  quite  within  the  range  of  political  probability, 
that  the  extended  dominion  of  the  Czar  will  be  the  im- 
mediate agent  of  regenerating  western  Asia.  If  so,  I 
care  not  how  soon  the  Russian  banner  is  planted  on  the 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  203 

walls  of  Constantinople.  No  man  can  suppose,  that  an 
instantaneous  transition  can  be  made,  in  Asiatic  Tur- 
key, from  the  present  condition  of  those  regions,  to  one 
of  republican  liberty.  The  process  must  be  gradual, 
and  may  be  slow.  If  the  Russian  power  be  extended 
over  them,  it  will  be  a  civilized  and  a  Christian  sway. 
Letters,  law,  and  religion,  will  follow  in  the  train ;  and 
the  foundation  will  be  laid  for  further  progress,  in  the 
advancing  intelligence  of  the  people. 

On  the  African  coast,  the  great  centre  of  barbarism 
has  fallen  ;  and  the  opportunity  seems  to  present  itself 
of  bringing  much  of  that  interesting  region  within  the 
pale  of  civilization,  under  the  auspices  of  one  of  the 
politest  nations  in  Europe.  The  man,  who,  but  fifteen 
years  ago,  should  have  predicted,  that  within  so  short  a 
period  of  time,  Greece  would  be  united  into  an  inde- 
pendent state,  under  a  European  prince  ;  that  a  Russian 
alliance  should  be  sought,  to  sustain  the  tottering  power 
of  the  Ottoman  Porte  ;  that  Algiers,  which  had  so  long 
bid  defiance  to  Christendom,  would  be  subjected ;  that 
a  flourishing  colony  of  the  descendants  of  Africa  should 
be  planted  on  its  western  coast ;  and  that  the  mystery 
of  the  Niger  would  be  solved,  and  steam-boats  be  found 
upon  its  waters,  would  have  been  deemed  a  wild  enthu- 
siast. And  now,  when  we  reflect,  that,  at  so  many 
different  points,  the  power  of  modern  civilization  is 
turned  upon  western  Asia  and  Africa ;  that  our  print- 
ing presses,  benevolent  institutions,  missionary  associa- 
tions, and  governments,  are  exerting  their  energies,  to 
push  the  empire  of  improvement  into  the  waste  places  ; 
when  we  consider,  that  the  generation  coming  forward, 
in  these  regions,  will  live  under  new  influences,  and, 
instead  of  the  Mussulman  barbarism,  repressing  every 
movement  toward  liberty  and  refinement,  that  the  influ- 
ence and  interest  of  the  leading  powers  of  Europe  will 
be  exerted  to  promote  the  great  end  ;  is  it  too  sanguine 
to  think,  that  a  grand  and  most  extensive  work  of  na- 
tional education  is  begun,  not  destined  to  stand  still,  or 
go  backward  ?  Go  backward,  did  I  say ;  what  is  to 


204  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

hinder  its  indefinite  progress  ?  Why  should  these  re- 
gions be  doomed  to  perpetuated  barbarity  ?  Hitherto, 
they  have  been  kept  barbarous,  by  the  influence  of  an- 
ti-christian,  despotic,  illiterate  governments.  At  pres- 
ent, vast  regions,  both  of  eastern  and  western  Asia,  and 
portions  of  Africa,  on  the  Mediterranean  and  Atlantic 
coasts,  are  under  the  protection  of  enlightened,  civilized, 
and  Christian  governments,  whose  interest  and  character 
are  alike  pledged  to  promote  the  improvement  of  their 
subjects.  Why  should  they  not  improve,  and  improve 
with  rapidity  ?  They  occupy  a  soil,  which  once  bore 
an  intelligent  population.  They  breathe  a  climate,  be- 
neath which  the  arts  and  letters  once  flourished.  They 
inhabit  the  coasts  of  that  renowned  sea,  whose  opposite 
shores,  of  old,  seemed  to  respond  to  each  other,  in  grand 
intellectual  concert,  like  the  emulous  choirs  of  some 
mighty  cathedral,  sending  back  to  each  other,  from  the 
resounding  galleries,  the  alternate  swell  of  triumph  and 
praise.  They  are  still  inhabited  by  men, — rational,  im- 
mortal men, — men  of  no  mean  descent,  whose  progen- 
itors enrolled  their  names  high  on  the  lists  of  renown. 
For  myself,  I  see  nothing  to  put  this  great  work  be- 
yond hope.  The  causes  are  adequate  to  its  achieve- 
ment, the  times  are  propitious,  the  indications  are  sig- 
nificant, and  the  work  itself,  though  great,  indeed,  is 
not  in  itself  chimerical  or  extravagant.  What  is  it  ? — 
To  teach  those  who  have  eyes,  to  see  ;  to  pour  instruc- 
tion into  ears  open  to  receive  it ;  to  aid  rational  minds 
to  think ;  to  kindle  immortal  souls  to  a  consciousness 
of  their  faculties ;  to  cooperate  with  the  strong  and  ir- 
repressible tendency  of  our  natures ;  to  raise,  out  of 
bafbarity  and  stupidity,  men,  who  belong  to  the  same 
race  of  beings  as  Newton  and  Locke,  as  Shakspeare 
and  Milton,  as  Franklin  and  Washington.  Let  others 
doubt  the  possibility  of  doing  it ;  I  cannot  conceive  the 
possibility  of  its  remaining  eventually  undone.  The  dif- 
ficulty of  civilizing  Asia  and  Africa  ?  I  am  more  struck 
with  the  difficulty  of  keeping  them  barbarous.  When 
I  think  what  man  is,  in  his  powers  and  improvable  ca- 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  205 

pacities ;  when  I  reflect  on  the  principles  of  education, 
as  I  have  already  attempted,  in  this  address,  to  develope 
them,  my  wonder  is,  at  the  condition  to  which  man  is 
sunk,  and  with  which  he  is  content,  and  not  at  any 
project  or  prophecy  of  his  elevation. 

On  the  contrary,  I  see  a  thousand  causes  at  work,  to 
hasten  the  civilization  of  the  world.  I  see  the  interest 
of  the  commercial  nations  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  hu- 
manity and  religion.  I  see  refinement,  and  the  arts, 
and  Christianity,  borne  on  the  white  wings  of  trade,  to 
the  furthest  shores,  and  penetrating,  by  mysterious  riv- 
ers, the  hidden  recesses  of  mighty  continents.  I  behold 
a  private  company,  beginning  with  commercial  adven- 
ture, ending  in  a  mighty  association  of  merchant  prin- 
ces, and  extending  a  government  of  Christian  men  over 
a  hundred  millions  of  benighted  heathens  in  the  barba- 
rous East ;  and  thus  opening  a  direct  channel  of  com- 
munication between  the  very  centre  of  European  civil- 
ization and  the  heart  of  India.  I  see  the  ambition  of 
extended  sway,  carrying  the  eagles  of  a  prosperous  em- 
pire, and,  with  them,  the  fruitful  rudiments  of  a  civiliz- 
ed rule,  over  the  feeble  provinces  of  a  neighboring  des- 
potism. I  see  the  great  work  of  African  colonization 
auspiciously  commenced,  promising  no  scanty  indem- 
nity for  the  cruel  wrongs  which  that  much-injured  con- 
tinent has  endured  from  the  civilized  world,  and  sending 
home  to  the  shores  of  their  fathers  an  intelligent,  well- 
educated  colored  population,  going  back  with  all  the 
arts  of  life  to  this  long  oppressed  land ;  and  I  can  see 
the  soldiers  of  the  cross  beneath  the  missionary  banner, 
penetrating  the  most  inaccessible  regions,  reaching  the 
most  distant  islands,  and  achieving,  in  a  few  years,  a 
creation  of  moral  and  spiritual  education,  for  which  cen- 
turies might  have  seemed  too  short.  When  I  behold 
atl  these  active  causes,  backed  by  all  the  power  of  pub- 
lic sentiment,  Christian  benevolence,  the  social  principle, 
and  the  very  spirit  of  the  age,  I  can  believe  almost  any 
thing  of  hope  and  promise.  I  can  believe  every  thing, 
sooner,  than  that  all  this  mighty  moral  enginery  can 
18  E.  E. 


206  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

remain  powerless  and  ineffectual.  It  is  against  the  law 
of  our  natures,  fallen  though  they  be,  which  tend  not 
downwards  but  upwards.  To  those,  who  doubt  the 
eventual  regeneration  of  mankind,  I  would  say,  in  the 
language  which  the  wise  and  pious  poet  has  put  into 
the  mouth  of  the  fallen  angel, 

"  Let  such  bethink  them, — 

That,  in  our  proper  motion,  we  ascend 
Up  to  our  native  seat.     Descent  and  fall 
To  us  are  adverse." 

Let  him,  who  is  inclined  to  distrust  the  efficiency  of 
the  social  and  moral  causes,  which  are  quietly  at  work 
for  the  improvement  of  the  nations,  reflect  on  the  phe- 
nomena of  the  natural  world.  Whence  fcome  the  wa- 
ters, which  swell  the  vast  current  of  the  great  rivers, 
and  fill  up  the  gulfs  of  the  bottomless  deep  ?  Have 
they  not  all  gone  up  to  the  clouds,  in  a  most  thin  and 
unseen  vapor,  from  the  wide  surface  of  land  and  sea  ? 
Have  not  these  future  billows,  on  which  navies  are  soon 
to  be  tossed,  in  which  the  great  monsters  of  the  deep 
will  disport  themselves,  been  borne  aloft  on  the  bosom 
of  a  fleecy  cloud,  chased  by  a  breeze,  with  scavce  enough 
of  substance  to  catch  the  hues  of  a  sunbeam ;  and  have 
they  not  descended,  sometimes,  indeed,  iri~  drenching 
rains,  but  far  more  diffusively  in  dewdrops,  and  gentle 
showers,  and  feathery  snows,  over  the  expanse  of  a  con- 
tinent, and  been  gathered,  successively,  into  the  slender 
rill,  the  brook,  the  placid  stream,  till  they  grew,  at  last, 
into  the  mighty  river,  pouring  down  his  tributary  floods 
into  the  unfathomed  ocean  ? 

Yes !  let  him,  who  wishes  to  understand  the  power 
of  the  principles  at  work  for  the  improvement  of  our 
race, — if  he  cannot  comprehend  their  vigor,  in  the 
schools  of  learning ;  if  he  cannot  see  the  promise  of  their 
efficiency,  in  the  very  character  of  the  human  mind ;  if, 
in  the  page  of  history,  sacred  and  profane,  checkered 
with  vicissitude  as  it  is,  he  cannot,  nevertheless,  behold 
the  clear  indications  of  a  progressive  nature, — let  him  ac- 
company the  missionary  bark  to  the  Sandwich  Islands 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  207 

He  will  there  behold  a  people,  sunk,  till  within  fifteen 
years,  in  the  depths  of  savage  and  of  heathen  barbari- 
ty ;  indebted  to  the  intercourse  of  the  civilized  world 
for  nothing  but  wasting  diseases  and  degrading  vices ; 
placed,  by  Providence,  in  a  garden  of  fertility  and  plen- 
ty, but,  by  revolting  systems  of  tyranny  and  superstition, 
kept  in  a  state  of  want,  corruption,  war,  and  misery. 
The  Christian  benevolence  of  a  private  American  asso- 
ciation casts  its  eyes  upon  them.  Three  or  four  indi- 
viduals,— without  power,  without  arms,  without  funds, 
except  such  as  the  frugal  resources  of  private  benevo- 
lence could  furnish  them  ;  strong  only  in  pious  resolu- 
tions, and  the  strength  of  a  righteous  cause, — land  on 
these  remote  islands,  and  commence  the  task  of  moral 
and  spiritual  reform.  If  ever  there  was  a  chimerical 
project,  in  the  eyes  of  worldly  wisdom,  this  was  one. 
If  this  enterprise  is  feasible,  tell  me,  what  is  not! 
Within  less  than  half  the  time  usually  assigned  to  a 
generation  of  men,  sixty  thousands  of  individuals,  in 
a  population  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  have 
been  taught  the  elements  of  human  learning.  Whole 
tribes  of  savages  have  demolished  their  idols,  abandon- 
ed their  ancient,  cruel,  superstitious,  a.nd  barbarous, 
laws,  and  adopted  some  of  the  best  institutions  of  civi- 
lization and  Christianity.  It  would,  I  think,  be  diffi- 
cult to  find,  in  the  pages  of  history,  the  record  of  a 
moral  improvement,  of  equal  extent,  effected  in  a  space 
of  time  so  inconsiderable,  and  furnishing  so  striking  an 
exemplification  of  the  power  of  the  means  at  work,  at 
the  present  day,  for  the  education  and  improvement  of 
man. 

If  I  mistake  not,  we  behold,  in  the  British  empire  in 
the  East,  another  most  auspicious  agency  for  the  exten- 
sion of  moral  influences  over  that  vast  region.  It  is 
true,  that,  hitherto,  commercial  profit  and  territorial  ag- 
grandizement have  seemed  to  be  the  only  objects,  which 
have  been  pursued  by  the  government.  But,  when  we 
look  at  home,  at  the  character  of  the  British  people, 
an  enlightened,  benevolent,  and  liberal,  community; 


208  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

when  we  consider  the  power  of  the  press,  and  the  force 
of  public  sentiment  in  that  Country,  and  the  disposition 
to  grapple  with  the  most  arduous  questions,  evinced  by 
its  rulers,  we  may  hope,  without  extravagance,  that  a 
glorious  day  of  improvement  is  destined  to  dawn  on 
India,  under  the  patronage  and  auspices  of  Great  Brit- 
ian.  The  thoughts  of  her  public-spirited  and  benev- 
olent men  have  long  been  bent  on  this  great  object. 
Some  of  the  finest  minds  that  have  adorned  our  nature 
have  labored  in  this  field.  I  need  not  recall  to  you  the 
boundless  learning,  the  taste,  and  the  eloquence,  of  Sir 
William  Jones  ;  nor  the  classical  elegance,  the  ardent 
philanthropy,  the  religious  self-devotion,,  of  Heber  ;  nor 
repeat  a  long  list  of  distinguished  names,  who,  for  fifty 
years,  have  labored  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  in 
the  East.  Nor  labored  in  vain.  Cheering  indications 
are  given,  in  various  quarters,  of  a  great  moral  change 
in  the  condition  of  these  vast  and  interesting  regions, 
once  the  abode  of  philosophy  and  the  arts.  The 
bloodiest  and  most  revolting  of  the  superstitions  of  the 
Hindoo  paganism  has  been  suppressed  by  the  British 
government.  The  widow  is  no  longer  compelled,  by 
the  fanatical  despotism  of  caste,  to  sacrifice  herself  on 
the  funeral  pile  of  her  husband.  The  whole  system  of 
the  castes  is  barely  tolerated  by  the  government ;  and, 
being  at  war  with  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
British  law,  as  it  is  with  the  interest  of  the  great  part  of 
the  population,  must,  at  no  distant  period,  crumble  away. 
The  consolidation  of  the  British  empire  in  India  prom- 
ises a  respite  from  the  wars  hitherto  perpetually  raging 
among  the  native  states  of  that  country,  and  forming,  of 
themselves,  an  effectual  barrier  to  every  advance  out  of 
barbarism.  The  field  seems  now  open  to  genial  influ- 
ences. It  is  impossible  to  repress  the  hope,  that,  out 
of  the  deep  and  living  fountains  of  benevolence,  in  the 
land  of  our  fathers,  a  broad  and  fertilizing  current  will 
be  poured  over  the  thirsty  plains  of  India, — the  abodes 
of  great  geniuses,  in  the  morning  of  the  world ;  and 
that  letters,  arts,  and  religion,  will  be  extended  to  a 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  209 

hundred  millions  of  these  mild  and  oppressed  fellow- 
beings. 

But  it  is  time  to  relieve  your  patience  ;  I  will  do  it, 
after  a  reflection  on  the  relation  which  this  Country 
bears  to  the  work  of  general  education  ;  and  all  I  wish 
to  say  will  be  comprised  in  one  word  of  encourage- 
ment, and  one  of  warning. 

The  recent  agitations  of  the  Country  have  a  bearing 
on  the  great  moral  questions  we  have  been  discussing, 
more  important,  as  it  seems  to  me,  than  their  immedi- 
ate political  aspect.  In  its  present  united  condition, 
that  of  a  state  already  large  and  powerful,  and  rapidly 
increasing ;  its  population  more  generally  well  educated, 
than  that  of  any  other  country,  and  imbued  with  an  un- 
usual spirit  of  personal,  social,  and  moral  enterprise  ;  it 
presents,  in  itself,  the  most  effective  organization  imag- 
inable, for  the  extension  of  the  domain  of  improvement, 
at  home  and  abroad.  The  vital  principle  of  this  organ- 
ization is  the  union  of  its  members.  In  this,  they  ex- 
joy  an  exemption  from  the  heavy  burden  of  great  local 
establishments  of  government,  and  still  more,  from  the 
curse  of  neighboring  states,  eternal  border  war.  In 
virtue  of  this  principle,  they  are  enabled  to  devote  all 
their  energies,  in  peace  and  tranquillity,  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  arts  of  private  life,  and  the  pursuit  of  every 
great  work  of  public  utility,  benevolence,  and  improve- 
ment. To  attack  the  principle  of  union  is  to  attack 
the  prosperity  of  the  whole  and  of  every  part  of  the 
country ;  it  is  to  check  the  outward  developement  of 
our  national  activity ;  to  turn  our  resources  and  ener- 
gies, now  exerted  in  every  conceivable  manner,  for 
public  and  private  benefit,  into  new  channels  of  mutual 
injury  and  ruin.  Instead  of  roads  and  canals,  to  unite 
distant  States,  the  hill  tops  of  those  which  adjoin  each 
other  would  be  crowned  with  fortresses ;  and  our 
means  would  be  strained  to  the  utmost,  in  the  support 
of  as  many  armies  and  navies  as  there  were  rival  sove- 
reignties. Nor  would  the  evil  rest  with  the  waste  of 
treasure.  The  thoughts  and  feelings  of  men  would  as- 
18* 


210  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

sume  a  new  direction  ;  and  military  renown,  and  rank, 
plunder,  and  revenge,  be  the  ruling  principles  of  the 
day.  Destroy  the  Union  of  the  States,  and  you  de- 
stroy their  character,  change  their  occupations,  blast 
their  prospects.  You  shut  the  annals  of  the  republic, 
and  open  the  book  of  kings.  You  shut  the  book  of 
peace,  and  you  open  the  book  of  war.  You  unbar  the 
gates  of  hell  to  the  legion  of  civil  discord,  ambition, 
havoc,  bloodshed,  and  ruin  ! 

Let  these  considerations  never  be  absent  from  our 
minds.  But,  if  the  question  is  asked,  What  encourage- 
ment is  there,  that  a  vast  deal  can  be  done,  in  a  short 
time,  for  the  improvement  of  man  ?  I  would  say  to 
him,  who  puts  the  question,  Look  around  you.  In  what 
country  do  you  live  ?  under  what  state  of  things  has  it 
grown  up  ?  Do  you  bear  in  mind,  that,  in  a  space  of 
time,  one  half  of  which  has  been  covered  by  the  lives 
of  some  yet  in  existence,  in  two  hundred  years,  these 
wide-spread  settlements,  with  so  many  millions  of  in- 
habitants, abounding  in  all  the  blessings  of  life,  more 
liberally  and  equally  bestowed  than  in  any  other  coun- 
try, have  been  built  up  in  a  remote  and  savage  wilder- 
ness ?  Do  you  recollect,  that  it  is  not  half  a  century, 
since,  with  a  population  comparatively  insignificant,  she 
vindicated  her  independence,  in  a  war  against  the  oldest 
and  strongest  government  on  earth?  Do  you  consid- 
er, that  the  foundations  of  these  powerful  and  prosper- 
ous States  were  laid  by  a  few  persecuted  and  aggriev- 
ed private  citizens,  of  moderate  fortune,  unsupported, 
scarcely  tolerated,  by  the  government?  If  you  will  go 
back  to  the  very  origin,  do  you  not  perceive,  that,  as  if 
to  consecrate  this  Country,  from  the  outset,  as  a  most 
illustrious  example  of  what  a  man  can  do,  it  was  owing 
to  the  fixed  impression,  on  the  heart  of  one  friendless 
mariner,  pursued  through  long  years  of  fruitless  solici- 
tation and  fainting  hope,  that  these  vast  American  con- 
tinents are  made  a  part  of  the  heritage  of  civilized  men  ? 
Look  around  you  again,  at  the  institutions  which  are 


EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND.  211 

the  pride  and  blessing  of  the  Country.  See  our  entire 
religious  establishments,  unendowed  by  the  state,  sup- 
ported by  the  united  efforts  of  the  individual  citizens. 
See  the  great^  literary  institutions  of  our  Country,  espe- 
cially those  in  New  England, — Dartmouth,  Williams, 
Bowdoin,  Brown,  Amherst,  and  others, — founded  by 
the  liberality  of  citizens  of  moderate  fortune,  or  by  the 
small  combined  contributions  of  public-spirited  benefac- 
tors, aided,  at  the  most,  by  moderate  endowments  from 
the  public  treasury  ; — and  "  the  two  twins  of  learning," 
if  I  may,  without  arrogance,  name  them  apart  from  the 
rest ;  this  most  efficient  and  respected  Seminary,  within 
whose  walls  we  are  now  convened,  and  my  own  an- 
cient and  beloved  Harvard ;  to  whom,  and  what,  do 
they  trace  their  origin  ?  Yale,  to  the  ten  worthy  fathers 
who  assembled  at  Branford,  in  1700,  and  laying,  each, 
a  few  volumes  on  the  table,  said,  "  I  give  these  books 
for  the  founding  of  a  college  in  this  Colony  ;"  and  Har- 
vard, to  the  dying  munificence  of  an  humble  minister 
of  the  Gospel,  who  landed  on  the  shores  of  America 
but  to  lay  his  dust  in  its  soil ;  but  who  did  not  finish 
his  brief  sojourn,  till  he  had  accomplished  a  work  of 
usefulness,  which,  we  trust,  will  never  die.  Whence 
originated  the  great  reform  in  our  prisons,  which  has 
accomplished  its  wonders  of  philanthropy  and  mercy, 
in  the  short  space  of  eight  years,  and  made  the  peniten- 
tiaries of  America  the  model  of  the  penal  institutions 
of  the  world  ?  It  had  its  origin  in  the  visit  of  a  mis- 
sionary, with  his  Bible,  to  the  convict's  cell.  Whence 
sprang  the  mighty  temperance  reform,  which  lias  al- 
ready done  so  much  to  wipe  off  a  great  blot  from  the 
character  of  the  Country  ?  It  was  commenced  on  so 
small  a  scale,  that  it  is  not  easy  to  assign  its  effective 
origin  to  a  precise  source.  And  counsels  and  efforts, 
as  humble  and  inconsiderable  at  the  outset,  gave  the 
impulse  to  the  missionary  cause  of  modern  times,  which, 
going  forth,  with  its  devoted  champions,  conquering 
and  to  conquer,  beneath 


212  EDUCATION  OF  MANKIND. 

"  the  great  ensign  of  Messiah, — 

Aloft  by  angels  borne,  their  sign  in  Heaven," 

has  already  gained  a  peaceful  triumph  over  the  furthest 
islands,  and  added  a  new  kingdom  to  the  realms  of  civ- 
ilization and  Christianity. 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  213 


BENEFITS  OF  A  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF 
KNOWLEDGE.* 

THE  place  of  our  meeting,  the  season  of  the  year, 
and  the  occasion  which  has  called  us  together,  seem  to 
prescribe  to  us  the  general  topics  of  our  discourse.  We 
are  assembled  within  the  precincts  of  a  place  of  educa- 
tion. It  is  the  season  of  the  year,  at  which  the  semi- 
naries of  learning,  throughout  the  Country,  are  dismiss- 
ing, to  the  duties  of  life,  that  class  of  their  students, 
whose  collegiate  course  is  run.  The  immediate  call 
which  has  brought  us  together,  at  this  time,  is  the  invita- 
tion of  the  literary  societies  of  this  highly  respectable  and 
fast  rising  Institution.  Agreeably  to  academic  usage, 
on  the  eve  of  their  departure  from  a  spot,  endeared  to 
them,  by  all  the  pleasant  associations  of  collegiate  life, 
they  are  desirous,  by  one  more  act  of  literary  commun- 
ion, to  strengthen  the  bond  of  intellectual  fellowship, 
and  alleviate  the  regrets  of  separation.  In  the  entire 
uncertainty  of  all  that  is  before  us,  for  good  or  for  evil, 
there  is  nothing  more  nearly  certain,  than  that  we,  who 
are  here  assembled  to-day,  shall  never,  in  the  providence 
of  God,  be  all  brought  together  again,  in  this  world. 
Such  an  event  is  scarcely  more  within  the  range  of 
probability,  than  that  the  individual  drops,  which,  at 
this  moment,  make  up  the  rushing  stream  of  yonder 
queen  of  the  valley ,f  mounting  in  vapor  to  the  clouds, 
and  scattered  to  the  four  winds,  will,  at  some  future 
period,  be  driven  together,  and  fall  in  rains  upon  the 
hills,  and  flow  down  and  recompose  the  identical  river, 
that  is  now  spreading  abundance  and  beauty  before  our 
eyes.  To  say  nothing  of  the  dread  summons,  which 
comes  to  all,  when  least  expected,  you  will  scarce  step 

*  Address  delivered  before  the  Literary  Societies  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege, August  25,  1835. 

t  Connecticut  river. 


214  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

out  of  this  sanctuary  of  your  intellectual  worship,  before 
you  will  find  how  widely  the  paths  of  life  diverge,  not 
more  so,  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  word,  than  in  the 
estrangement,  which  results  from  variety  of  pursuit, 
opinion,  party,  and  success.  Influenced  by  the  feelings 
which  this  reflection  inspires,  it  is  natural  that  we  should 
pause ;  that  we  should  give  our  minds  up  to  the  medi- 
tations which  belong  to  the  place,  to  the  occasion,  and 
the  day ;  that  we  should  inquire  into  the  character  of 
that  general  process,  in  which  you  are  now  taking  so 
important  a  step ;  that  we  should  put  our  thoughts  in 
harmony  with  the  objects  that  surround  us,  and  thus 
seek,  from  the  hour  as  it  flies,  from  the  occasion,  which, 
in  all  its  accidents  and  qualifications,  will  never  return, 
to  extract  some  abiding  good  impression,  and  to  carry 
away  some  memorial,  that  will  survive  the  moment. 

The  multiplication  of  the  means  of  education,  and 
the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge,  at  the  present  day, 
are  topics  of  universal  remark.  There  are  twelve  col- 
legiate institutions  in  New  England,  whose  Commence- 
ment is  observed  during  the  months  of  August  and 
September,  and  which  will  send  forth,  the  present  year, 
on  an  average  estimate,  about  four  hundred  graduates. 
There  are  more  than  fifty  other  institutions,  of  the  same 
general  character,  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States. 
The  greater  portion  of  them  are  in  the  infancy  of  their 
existence  and  usefulness,  but  some  of  them  compare 
advantageously  with  our  New-England  institutions.  Be- 
sides the  colleges,  there  are  the  schools  for  theological, 
medical,  and  legal  education,  on  the  one  hand ;  and, 
on  the  other,  the  innumerable  institutions,  for  prepara- 
tory or  elementary  instruction,  from  the  infant  schools, 
to  which  the  fond  and  careful  mother  sends  her  darling 
lisper,  not  yet  quite  able  to  articulate,  but  with  the 
laudable  purpose  of  getting  him  out  of  the  way,  up  to 
the  high  schools  and  endowed  academies,  which  furnish 
a  competent  education  for  all  the  active  duties  of  life. 
Besides  these  establishments  for  education,  of  various 
character  and  name,  societies  for  the  promotion  of  use- 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  215 

ful  knowledge,  mechanics'  institutes,  lyceums,  and  vol- 
untary courses  of  lectures,  abound,  in  many  parts  of 
the  Country,  and  perform  a  very  important  office  in 
carrying  on  the  great  work  of  instruction.  Lastly,  the 
press,  by  the  cheap  multiplication  of  books,  and  espe- 
cially by  the  circulation  of  periodical  works  of  every 
form  and  description,  has  furnished  an  important  auxil- 
iary to  every  other  instrument  of  education,  and  turned 
the  whole  community,  so  to  say,  into  one  great  monito- 
rial school.  There  is  probably  not  a  newspaper,  of  any 
character,  published  in  the  United  States,  which  does 
not,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  convey  more  useful  in- 
formation to  its  readers,  than  is  to  be  found  in  the 
twenty-one  folios  of  Albertus  Magnus, — light,  as  he  was, 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  I  class  all  these  agencies  un- 
der the  general  name  of  the  means  of  education,  because 
they  form  one  grand  system,  by  which  knowledge  is 
imparted  to  the  mass  of  the  community,  and  the  mind 
of  the  age  is  instructed,  disciplined,  and  furnished  with 
its  materials  for  action  and  thought. 

These  remarks  are  made,  in  reference  to  this  Coun- 
try ;  but  in  some  countries  of  Europe,  all  the  means 
of  education  enumerated,  with  an  exception,  perhaps,  in 
the  number  of  newspapers,  exist,  to  as  great  an  extent 
as  in  our  own.  Although  there  are  portions  of  Europe, 
where  the  starless  midnight  of  the  mind  still  covers 
society  with  a  pall,  as  dreary  and  impervious  as  in  the 
middle  ages,  yet  it  may  be  safely  said,  upon  the  whole, 
that,  not  only  in  America,  but  in  the  elder  world,  a 
wonderfully-extensive  diffusion  of  knowledge  has  taken 
place.  In  Great  Britain,  in  France,  in  Germany,  in 
Holland,  in  Sweden,  in  Denmark,  the  press  is  active, 
schools  are  numerous,  higher  institutions  for  education 
abound,  associations  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge 
flourish,  and  literature  and  science,  in  almost  every  form, 
are  daily  rendered  more  cheap  and  accessible.  There 
is,  in  fact,  no  country  in  Europe,  from  which  the  means 
of  light  are  wholly  shut  out. 

It  is  the  impulse  of  the  liberal  mind  to  rejoice  in  this 


216  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

manifest  progress  of  improvement,  and  we  are  daily  ex- 
changing congratulations  with  each  other,  on  the  multi- 
plication, throughout  the  world,  of  the  means  of  educa- 
tion. There  are  not  wanting,  however,  those  who  find 
a  dark  side,  even  to  such  an  object  as  this.  We  ought 
not,  therefore,  either  to  leave  a  matter,  so  important,  ex- 
posed to  vague  prejudicial  surmises,  on  the  one  hand ; 
nor,  on  the  other,  should  we  rest  merely  in  the  impulses 
of  liberal  feeling  and  unreflecting  enthusiasm.  We 
should  fortify  ourselves,  in  a  case  of  such  magnitude,  in 
an  enlightened  conviction.  We  should  seek  to  reduce, 
to  an  exact  analysis,  the  great  doctrine,  that  the  exten- 
sion of  the  means  of  education,  and  the  general  diffusion 
of  knowledge,  are  beneficial  to  society.  It  is  the  object 
of  the  present  address,  to  touch,  briefly,  and  in  the 
somewhat  desultory  ma'nner  required,  on  such  an  occa- 
sion, on  some  of  the  prominent  points  involved  in  this 
great  subject ;  and  to  endeavor  to  show,  that  the  diffu- 
sion of  knowledge,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  is  favora- 
ble to  liberty,  to  science,  and  virtue  ;  to  social,  intellec- 
tual, and  spiritual,  improvement ;  the  only  three  things 
which  deserve  a  name,  below. 

I.  Although  liberty,  strictly  speaking,  is  only  one  of 
the  objects,  for  which  men  have  united  themselves  in 
civil  societies,  it  is  so  intimately  connected  with  all  the 
others,  and  every  thing  else  is  so  worthless,  when  liber- 
ty is  taken  away,  that  its  preservation  may  be  consider- 
ed, humanly  speaking,  the  great  object  of  life,  in  civil- 
ized communities.  It  is  so  essential  to  the  prosperous 
existence  of  nations,  that,  even  where  the  theory  of  the 
government,  as  in  many  absolute  monarchies,  seems  to 
subvert  its  very  principle,  by  making  it  depend  on  the 
will  of  the  ruler,  yet  usage,  prescription,  and  a  kind  of 
beneficent  instinct  of  the  body  politic,  secure  to  the 
people  some  portion  of  practical  liberty.  Where  politi- 
cal interests  and  passions  do  not  interfere,  (which  they 
rarely  do,  in  respect  to  the  private  rights  of  the  mass 
of  the  community,)  the  subjects  of  the  absolute  monar- 
chies, of  the  north  and  east  of  Europe,  enjoy  almost  as 


GENEHAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  217 

large  a  share  of  liberty,  as  those  of  what  are  called 
the  constitutional  governments,  in  their  neighborhood. 
Where  this  is  not  the  case,  where  a  despotic  theory  of 
the  government  is  carried  out  into  a  despotic  administra- 
tion, and  life,  rights,  and  property,  are  habitually  sac- 
rificed to  the  caprice  and  passions  of  men  in  power,  as 
in  all  the  despotisms  which  stretch  across  Asia,  from  the 
Euxine  to  the  Pacific,  there,  the  population  is  kept  per- 
manently degenerate,  barbarous  and  wretched. 

j^henever  we  speak  of  liberty,  in  this  connexion,  we 
comprehend,  under  it,  legal  security  for  life,  personal 
freedom,  and  property.  As  these  are  equally  dear  to 
all  men  ;  as  all  feel,  with  equal  keenness  and  bitterness, 
the  pang  which  extinguishes  existence,  the  chain  which 
binds  the  body,  the  coercion  which  makes  one  toil  for 
another's  benefit;  it  follows,  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence, that  all  governments  which  subvert  liberty  are 
founded  on  force ;  that  all  despotisms  are,  what  some, 
by  emphasis,  are  occasionally  called,  military  despo- 
tisms. The  degree  of  force,  required  to  hold  a  popu- 
lation in  subjection,  other  things  being  equal,  is  in  di- 
rect ratio  to  its  intelligence  and  skill ;  its  acquaintance 
with  the  arts  of  life  ;  its  sense  of  the  worth  of  existence  ; 
in  fine,  to  its  spirit  and  character.  There  is  a  point, 
indeed,  beyond  which,  this  rule  fails,  and  at  which,  even 
the  most  thoroughly-organized  military  despotism  can- 
not be  extended  over  the  least  intellectual  race  of  sub- 
jects, serfs,  or  slaves.  History  presents  us  with  the  rec- 
ord of  numerous  servile  wars  and  peasant's  wars,  from 
the  days  of  Spartacus  to  those  of  Tupac  Amaru ;  in 
which,  at  the  first  outbreak,  all  the  advantages  of  au- 
thority, arms,  concert,  discipline,  skill,  have  availed  the 
oppressor  nothing  against  humanity's  last  refuge,  the 
counsel  of  madness,  and  the  resources  of  despair. 

There  are  two  ways,  in  which  liberty  is  promoted  by 
the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge.  The  first  is,  by 
disabusing  the  minds  of  men  of  the  theoretical  frauds, 
by  which  arbitrary  governments  are  upheld.  It  is  a 
remark,  almost  if  not  quite  without  exception,  that  all 
19  E.  E. 


218  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

governments,  unfriendly  to  well-regulated  liberty,  are 
founded  on  the  basis  of  some  religious  imposture  ;  the 
arm  of  military  violence  is  clothed  with  the  enervating 
terrors  of  superstition.  The  Oriental  nations,  as  far 
back  as  our  accounts  run,  worshipped  their  despots  as 
divinities,  and  taught  this  monstrous  adulation  to  the 
successors  of  Alexander.  The  Roman  emperors,  from 
the  time  of  Julius  Cresar,  were  deified  ;  and  the  absolu- 
tism of  modern  times  rests  on  a  basis  a  little  more  re- 
fined, but  not  more  rational.  The  divine  right  of  ^n- 
ry  VIII.  or  of  Charles  V.  was  no  better,  in  the  eye  of 
an  intelligent  Christian,  than  that  of  their  contemporary, 
Solyman  the  Magnificent. 

Superstitions  like  these,  resting,  like  all  other  super- 
stitions, on  ignorance,  vanish,  with  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  like  the  morning  mists,  on  yonder  river,  be- 
fore the  rising  sun  ;  and  governments  are  brought  down 
to  their  only  safe  and  just  basis, — the  welfare  and  will 
of  the  governed.  The  entire  cause  of  modern  political 
reform  has  started  in  the  establishment  of  this  principle, 
and  no  example  is  more  conspicuous,  than  that  which, 
for  the  magnitude  of  the  revolution  and  the  immensity 
of  its  consequences,  is  called,  The  Reformation;  and 
which,  on  account  of  the  temporal  usurpations  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  the  intrusion  of  its  power  into  the  af- 
fairs of  foreign  countries,  and  the  right  claimed  by  the 
Pope,  to  command  the  obedience  of  subject  and  sover- 
eign,— was  not  less  a  political,  than  a  religious  revolution. 
Throughout  this  great  work,  the  course  and  conduct  of 
Luther  present  a  most  illustrious  example  of  the  efficacy 
of  a  diffusion  of  knowledge,  of  an  appeal  to  the  popular 
mind,  in  breaking  the  yoke  of  the  oppressor,  and  estab- 
lishing a  rational  freedom.  When  he  commenced  the 
great  enterprise,  he  stood  alone.  The  governments  ac- 
knowledged the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  pontiff.  The 
teachers  of  the  universities  and  schools  were,  for  the 
most  part,  regular  priests,  bound,  not  only  by  the  com- 
mon tie  of  spiritual  allegiance,  but  by  the  rules  of  the 
monastic  orders  to  which  they  belonged.  The  books  of 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  219 

authority  were  exclusively  those  of  the  schoolmen,  im- 
plicitly devoted  to  the  church,  filled  with  fantastical 
abstractions,  with  a  meager  and  unprofitable  logic,  and 
written  in  a  dead  language.  In  this  state  of  things, 
says  Lord  Bacon,  "  Martin  Luther,  conducted,  no  doubt, 
by  a  higher  Providence,  but  in  a  discourse  of  reason, 
finding  what  a  province  he  had  undertaken,  against  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  and  the  degenerate  traditions  of  the 
church,  and  finding  his  own  solitude,  being  no  ways 
aided  by  the  opinions  of  his  own  time,  was  enforced  to 
awake  all  antiquity,  and  to  call  former  times  to  his  suc- 
cor, to  make  a  party  against  the  present  time.  So  that 
the  ancient  authors,  both  in  divinity  and  humanity, 
which  had  long  time  slept  in  libraries,  began  generally 
to  be  read  and  revolved.  This,  by  consequence,  did 
draw  on  a  necessity  of  a  more  exquisite  travel  in  the 
languages  original,  wherein  those  authors  did  write,  for 
a  better  understanding  of  those  authors,  and  the  better 
advantages  of  pressing  and  applying  their  words.  And 
thereof  grew,  again,  a  delight  in  their  manner  and  style 
of  phrase,  and  an  admiration  of  that  kind  of  writing ; 
which  was  much  furthered  and  precipitated  by  the  en- 
mity and  opposition,  that  the  propounders  of  those 
primitive  but  seeming  new  opinions  had  against  the 
schoolmen,  who  were  generally  of  the  contrary  part,  and 
whose  writings  were  altogether  in  a  different  style  and 
form,  taking  liberty  to  coin  and  frame  new  terms  of 
art,  to  express  their  own  sense,  and  to  avoid  circuit  of 
speech,  without  regard  to  the  pureness,  pleasantness, 
and,  as  I  may  call  it,  lawfulness,  of  the  phrase  or  word. 
And  again,  because  the  great  labor  then  was  with  the 
people,  of  whom  the  Pharisees  were  wont  to  say,  exe- 
crabilis  ista  turba,  qua  non  novit  legem;*  for  the 
winning  and  persuading  them,  there  grew,  of  necessity, 
in  chief  price  and  request,  eloquence  and  variety  of  dis- 
course, as  the  fittest  and  forciblest  access  into  the  ca- 
pacity of  the  vulgar  sort."| 

*  John  VII.  49. 

t  Lord  Bacon'a  Works,  Vol.  I.,  p.  14,  4to  ed. 


220  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF   KNOWLEDGE. 

With  the  greatest  reverence  for  the  authority  of  Lord 
Bacon,  I  would  say,  that  he  seems  to  me  to  have  some- 
what mistaken  the  relative  importance  of  the  great  in- 
struments of  the  Reformation.  Some  of  the  contro- 
versial works  of  Luther,  it  is  true,  were  written  in  Latin  ; 
but  in  the  solemn  loneliness,  in  which  he  found  himself, 
he  called  around  him,  not  so  much  the  masters  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  wisdom,  through  the  study  of  the 
ancient  languages,  as  he  did  the  mass  of  his  own  coun- 
trymen, by  his  translation  of  the  Bible.  It  would  have 
been  a  matter  of  tardy  impression  and  remote  efficacy, 
had  he  done  no  more  than  awake  from  the  dusty  alcoves 
of  the  libraries  the  venerable  shades  of  the  classic  teach- 
ers. He  roused  up  a  population  of  living,  sentient  men, 
his  countrymen,  his  brethren.  He  might  have  written 
and  preached  in  Latin,  to  his  dying  day,  and  the  elegant 
Italian  scholars,  champions  of  the  church,  would  have 
answered  him  in  Latin  better  than  his  own  ; — and  with 
the  mass  of  the  people,  the  whole  affair  would  have  been 
a  contest  between  angry  and  loquacious  priests.  He 
took  into  his  hands,  not  the  oaten  pipe  of  the  classic 
Muse ;  he  moved  to  his  great  work,  not 

"  to  the  Dorian  mood 

Of  flutes,  and  soft  recorders  :" — 

he  grasped  the  iron  trumpet  of  his  mother  tongue, — 
the  good  old  Saxon,  from  which  our  own  is  descended, 
the  language  of  noble  thought  and  high  resolve, — and 
blew  a  blast,  that  shook  the  nations  from  Rome  to  the 
Orkneys.  Sovereign,  citizen,  and  peasant,  started  at 
the  sound :  and,  in  a  few  short  years,  the  poor  monk, 
who  had  begged  his  bread  for  a  pious  canticle,  in  the 
streets  of  Eisenach,*  no  longer  friendless,  no  longer  sol- 
itary, was  sustained  by  victorious  armies,  countenanced 
by  princes,  and,  what  is  a  thousand  times  more  precious 
than  the  brightest  crown  in  Christendom,  revered  as  a 
sage,  a  benefactor,  and  a  spiritual  parent,  at  the  firesides 
of  millions  of  his  humble  and  grateful  countrymen. 
Nor  do  we  less  plainly  see,  in  this,  as  in  numerous 

*  Luther's  Werke,  Th.  X.,  524. 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  221 

other  examples,  in  the  modern  history  of  liberty,  the 
more  general  operation  of  the  influences,  by  which 
the  diffusion  of  knowledge  promotes  rational  freedom. 
Simply  to  overturn  the  theoretical  sophisms,  upon  which 
any  particular  form  of  despotism  may  rest,  is  but  to 
achieve  a  temporary  work.  While  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple remain  ignorant,  to  undermine  the  system  of  oppres- 
sion, political  or  ecclesiastical,  under  which,  at  any  time, 
they  may  labor,  is  but  to  stagger  darkling  from  one 
tyranny  to  another.  It  is  for  this  reason, — a  truth,  too 
sadly  exemplified  in  the  history  of  the  world,  for  the  last 
fifty  years, — that  countries,  in  which  the  majority  of  the 
people  have  grown  up,  without  knowledge,  stung  to 
madness  by  intolerable  oppression,  may  make  a  series 
of  plunges,  through  scenes  of  successive  revolution  and 
anarchy,  and  come  out,  at  last,  drenched  in  blood,  and 
loaded  with  chains. 

We  must  therefore  trace  the  cause  of  political  slavery 
beyond  the  force,. which  is  the  immediate  instrument; 
beyond  the  superstition,  which  is  its  puissant  ally ;  be- 
yond the  habit  and  usage,  the  second  nature,  of  gov- 
ernments as  of  men  ;  and  we  shall  find  it  in  that  fa- 
tal inequality  which  results  from  hereditary  ignorance 
This  is  the  ultimate,  the  broad,  the  solid,  foundation  of 
despotism.  A  few  are  wise,  skilful,  learned,  wealthy ; 
millions  are  uninformed,  and  consequently  unconscious 
of  their  rights.  For  a  few,  are  concentrated  the  delights, 
the  honors,  and  the  excitements,  of  life  ;  for  all  the  rest, 
remains  a  heritage  of  unenlightened  subjection  and  un- 
rewarded toil. 

Such  is  the  division  of  the  human  race,  in  all  the 
Oriental  despotisms,  at  the  present  day.  Such  it  was 
in  all  Europe,  in  the  middle  ages.  Such,  in  some  parts 
of  Europe,  it  still  is ;  such  it  naturally  must  be,  every 
where,  under  institutions  which  keep  the  mass  of  the 
people  ignorant.  A  nation  is  numerically  reckoned  at 
its  millions  of  souls.  But  they  are  not  souls  ;  the  great- 
er part  are  but  bodies.  God  has  given  them  souls,  but 
man  has  done  all  but  annihilate  the  immortal  principle  • 
19* 


222  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

its  life-spring,  its  vigor,  its  conscious  power,  are  broken 
down,  and  the  people  lie  buried  in  subjection,  till, 
through  the  medium  of  the  understanding,  a  new  crea- 
tion takes  place'.  The  physical  creation  began  with 
light ;  the  intellectual  and  moral  creation  begins  with 
light,  also.  Chosen  servants  of  Providence  are  raised 
up,  to  speak  the  word  ;  power  is  given  to  political  or 
religious  reformers,  to  pronounce  the  decree  ;  it  spreads, 
like  the  elemental  beam,  by  the  thousand  channels  of 
intelligence,  from  mind  to  mind,  and  a  new  race  is  cre- 
ated. Let  there  be  light ;  let  those  rational  intellects 
begin  to  think.  Let  them  but  look  in  upon  themselves, 
and  see  that  they  are  men,  and  look  upon  their  oppres- 
sors, and  see  if  they  are  more.  Let  them  look  round 
upon  Nature :  "  it  is  my  Father's  dominion ;  shall  not 
my  patient  labor  be  rewarded  with  its  share  ?"  Let 
them  look  up  to  the  heavens :  "  has  He,  that  upholds 
their  glorious  orbs,  and  who  has  given  me  the  capacity 
to  trace  and  comprehend  their  motions,  designed  me  to 
grovel,  without  redemption,  in  the  dust  beneath  my  feet, 
and  exhaust  my  life  for  a  fellow-man  no  better  than 
myself?" 

These  are  the  truths,  which,  in  all  ages,  shoot  through 
the  understandings  to  the  hearts  of  men  ;  they  are  what 
our  revolutionary  fathers  called  "  first  principles ;"  and 
they  prepared  the  way  for  the  Revolution.  All  that  was 
good  in  the  French  Revolution  was  built  upon  them. 
They  are  the  corner-stone  of  modern  English  liberty ; 
they  emancipated  the  Netherlands  and  the  Swiss  Can- 
tons ;  and  they  gave  to  republican  Greece  and  Rome 
that  all  but  miraculous  influence  in  human  affairs, 
which  succeeding  ages  of  civil  discord,  of  abuse,  and 
degeneracy,  have  not  yet  been  able  to  countervail. 
They  redress  the  inequalities  of  society.  When,  pen- 
etrated with  these  great  conceptions,  the  people  assert 
their  native  worth  and  inherent  rights,  it  is  wonderful 
to  behold  how  the  petty  badges  of  social  inequality,  the 
emblems  of  rank  and  of  wealth,  are  contemned.  Cin- 
cinnatus,  who  saved  Rome  from  the  Sabines,  was  found 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  223 

ploughing  his  own  land,  a  farm  of  four  acres,  when 
created  dictator ;  and  Epaminondas,  who  rescued  his 
country  from  the  domination  of  Sparta,  and  was  im- 
plored by  the  emissaries  of  the  king  of  Persia  to  do 
their  master  the  honor  to  take  his  bribes,  possessed  no 
other  property,  when  he  fell  gloriously  at  Mantinssa, 
than  the  humble  utensils  for  cooking  his  daily  food. 
A  single  bold  word,  heroic  exploit,  or  generous  sacri- 
fice, at  the  fortunate  crisis,  kindles  the  latent  faculties 
of  a  whole  population,  turns  them  from  beasts  of  bur- 
den into  men  ;  excites  to  intense  action  and  sympa- 
thetic counsel,  millions  of  awakened  minds,  and  leads 
them  forth  to  the  contest.  When  such  a  developement 
of  mental  energy  has  fairly  taken  place,  the  battle  is 
fought  and  won.  It  may  be  long  and  deadly,  it  may 
be  brief  and  bloodless.  Freedom  may  come,  quickly, 
in  robes  of  peace,  or  after  ages  of  conflict  and  war ;  but 
come  it  will,  and  abide  it  will,  wherever  the  principles 
on  which  it  rests  have  taken  hold  of  the  general  mind. 
Nor  let  us  forget,  that,  the  dangers  to  which  liberty 
is  exposed  are  not  all  on  the  side  of  arbitrary  power. 
That  popular  intelligence,  by  which  the  acquisition  of 
rational  freedom  is  to  be  made,  is  still  more  necessary 
to  protect  it  against  anarchy.  Here,  is  the  great  test  of 
a  people,  who  deserve  their  freedom.  Under  a  parental 
despotism,  the  order  of  the  state  is  preserved,  and  life 
and  property  are  protected,  by  the  strong  arm  of  the 
government.  A  measure  of  liberty,  that  is,  safety  from 
irregular  violence,  is  secured  by  the  constant  presence 
of  that  military  power,  which  is  the  great  engine  of  sub- 
jection. But,  beneath  a  free  government,  there  is  noth- 
ing but  the  intelligence  of  the  people,  to  keep  the  peo- 
ple's peace.  Order  must  be  preserved,  not  by  a  mili- 
tary police,  but  by  the  spontaneous  concert  of  a  well- 
informed  population,  resolved  that  the  rights,  which 
have  been  'rescued  from  despotism,  shall  not  be  sub- 
verted by  anarchy.  As  the  disorder  of  a  delicate  sys- 
tem, and  the  degeneracy  of  a  noble  nature,  are  spec- 
tacles more  grievous  than  the  corruption  of  meanei 


224  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF   KNOWLEDGE. 

things,  so,  if  we  permit  the  principle  of  our  government 
to  be  subverted,  havoc,  terror,  and  destruction,  beyond 
the  measure  of  ordinary  political  catastrophes,  will  be 
our  lot.  This  is  a  subject  of  intense  interest  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  at  the  present  time.  To 
no  people,  since  the  world  began,  was  such  an  amount 
of'blessings  and  privileges  ever  given  in  trust.  No 
people  was  ever  so  eminently  made  the  guardians  of 
their  own  rights ;  and,  if  this  great  experiment  of  ra- 
tional liberty  should  here  be  permitted  to  fail,  I  know 
not  where  or  when,  among  the  sons  of  Adam,  it  will 
ever  be  resumed. 

II.  But  it  is  more  than  time  to  proceed  to  the  sec- 
ond point,  which  I  proposed  to  illustrate, — the  favor- 
able influence  of  the  extension  of  the  means  of  educa- 
tion, and  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  on  the  progress 
of  sound  science.  It  is  a  common  suggestion,  that, 
while  the  more  abundant  means  of  popular  education, 
existing  at  the  present  day,  may  have  occasioned  the 
diffusion  of  a  considerable  amount  of  superficial  knowl- 
edge, the  effect  has  been  unfavorable  to  the  growth  of 
profound  science.  I  am  inclined  to  think  this  view 
of  the  subject  entirely  erroneous ;  an  inference,  by  no 
means  warranted  by  the  premises  from  \vhich  it  is  drawn. 
It  is  no  doubt  true,  that,  in  consequence  of  the  increas- 
ed facilities  for  education,  the  number  of  students,  of 
all  descriptions,  both  readers  and  writers,  is  almost  in- 
definitely multiplied;  and,  with  this  increase  in  the  en- 
tire number  of  persons  who  have  enjoyed,  in  a. greater 
or  less  degree,  advantages  for  improving  their  minds, 
the  number  of  half-taught  and  superficial  pretenders 
has  become  proportionably  greater.  Education,  which, 
at  some  periods  of  the  world,  has  been  a  very  rare  ac- 
complishment of  a  highly-gifted  and  fortunate  few  ;  at 
other  times,  an  attainment  attended  with  considerable 
difficulty,  and  almost  confined  to  professed  scholars ; 
has  become,  in  some  parts  of  this  Country,  one  of  the 
public  birthrights  of  the  people.  In  this  state  of  things, 
those  who  habitually  look  on  the  dark  side, — often  wit- 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  225 

nessing  the  arrogant  displays  of  superficial  learning; 
books,  of  great  pretension  and  little  value,  multiplied 
and  circulated  by  all  the  arts  and  machinery  of  an  enter- 
prising and  prosperous  age  ;  and  in  all  things  much  for- 
wardness and  show,  sometimes  unaccompanied  by  worth 
and  substance, — are  apt  to  infer  a  decline  of  sound  learn- 
ing, and  look  back,  with  a  sigh,  to  what  they  imagine 
to  have  been  the  more  solid  erudition  of  former  days. 
But  I  deem  this  opinion  without  real  foundation,  in  truth. 

It  is  an  age,  no  doubt,  of  cheap  fame.  A  sort  of 
literary  machinery  exists,  of  which  the  patent  papermill, 
the  power-press,  the  newspapers,  magazines,  and  re- 
views, the  reading  societies,  and  circulating  libraries,  are 
some  of  the  principal  springs  and  levers,  by  means  of 
which,  almost  any  thing,  in  the  shape  of  a  book,  is 
thrown  into  a  sort  of  notoriety,  miscalled  reputation. 
But  nothing  is  to  be  inferred,  from  this  state  of  things, 
in  disparagement  of  the  learning  and  scholarship  of  the 
age.  All  that  it  proves  is,  that,  with  a  vast  diffusion 
of  useful  knowledge,  with  an  astonishing  multiplica- 
tion of  the  means  of  education,  and,  as  I  believe,  with  a 
corresponding  growth  of  true  science,  there  has  sprung 
up,  by  natural  association,  an.  abundance  of  triflers  and 
pretenders,  like  a  growth  of  rank  weeds,  with  a  rich 
crop,  on  a  fertile  soil. 

There  were,  surely,  always  pretenders  in  science  and 
literature,  in  every  age  of  the  world  ;  nor  must  we  sup- 
pose, because  their  works  and  their  names  have  per- 
ished, that  they  existed  in  a  smaller  proportion,  former- 
ly, than  now.  Solomon  intimates  a  complaint  of  the 
number  of  books,  in  his  day,  which  he  probably  would 
not  have  done,  if  they  had  all  been  good  books.  The 
sophists  in  Greece  were  sworn  pretenders  and  dealers 
in  words  ;  the  most  completely  organized  body  of  learn- 
ed quacks  that  ever  existed.  Bavius  and  Maevius  were 
certainly  not  the  only  worthless  poets  in  Rome ;  and 
from  the  age  of  the  grammarians  and  critics  of  the  Al- 
exandrian school,  through  that  of  the  monkish  chroni- 
clers and  the  schoolmen  of  the  middle  ages,  and  the 


226  GENERAL,  DIFFUSION  OF   KNOWLEDGE. 

mystics  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  there 
has  been  no  interregnum  in  the  kingdom  of  learned 
dullness  and  empty  profession.  If  the  subjects,  at  the 
present  day,  seem  more  numerous  than  formerly,  it  is 
only  in  proportion  to  the  increase  in  the  entire  numbers 
of  the  reading  and  writing  world ;  and  because  the 
sagacious  hand  of  time  brushes  away  the  false  preten- 
sions of  former  days,  leaving  real  talent  and  sound 
learning  the  more  conspicuous,  for  standing  alone. 

But,  as  in  elder  days,  notwithstanding  this  unbroken 
sway  of  false  lore  and  vain  philosophy,  the  line  of  the 
truly  wise  and  soundly  learned  was  also  preserved,  en- 
tire ;  as  the  lights  of  the  world  have,  in  all  former  ages, 
successively  risen,  illuminating  the  deep  darkness  and 
outshining  the  delusive  meteors  ;  so,  at  the  present  day, 
I  am  firmly  convinced,  that  there  is  more  patient  learn- 
ing, true  philosophy,  fruitful  science,  and  various  knowl- 
edge, than  at  any  former  time.  By  the  side  of  the 
hosts  of  superficial,  arrogant,  and  often  unprincipled, 
pretenders,  in  every  department,  there  is  a  multitude, 
innumerable,  of  the  devoted  lovers  of  truth,  whom  no 
labor  can  exhaust,  no  obstacles  discourage,  no  height 
of  attainment  dazzle  ;  and  who,  in  every  branch  of 
knowledge,  sacred  and  profane,  moral,  physical,  exact, 
and  critical,  have  carried,  and  are  carrying,  the  glori- 
ous banner  of  true  science  into  regions  of  investiga- 
tion, wholly  unexplored  in  elder  times.  Let  me  not  be 
mistaken.  I  mean  not  arrogantly  to  detract  from  the 
fame  of  the  great  master  minds,  the  gifted  few,  who, 
from  age  to  age,  after  long  centuries  have  intervened, 
have  appeared ;  and  have  risen,  as  all  are  ready  to  al- 
low, above  all  rivalry.  Aftertime,  alone,  can  pronounce, 
whether  this  age  has  produced  minds  worthy  to  be  class- 
ed in  their  select  circle.  But,  this  aside,  I  cannot  com- 
prehend the  philosophy,  by  which  we  assume,  as  prob- 
able, nor  do  I  see  the  state  of  facts,  by  which  we  must 
admit,  as  actually  existing,  an  intellectual  degeneracy, 
at  the  present  day,  either  in  Europe  or  in  this  Country. 
I  see  not,  why  the  multiplication  of  popular  guides  to 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  227 

partial  attainments  ;  why  the  facilities,  that  abound  for 
the  acquisition  of  superficial  scholarship,  should,  in  the 
natural  operation  of  things,  either  diminish  the  number 
of  powerful  and  original  minds,  or  satisfy  their  ardent 
thirst  for  acquisition,  by  a  limited  progress. 

There  is  no  doubt,  that  many  of  these  improvements, 
in  the  methods  of  learning  ;  many  of  the  aids  to  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge,  which  are  the  product  of  the 
present  time  ;  are,  in  their  very  nature,  calculated  to  help 
the  early  studies,  even  of  minds  of  the  highest  order. 
It  is  a  familiar  anecdote  told  of  James  Otis,  that,  when 
he  first  obtained  a  copy  of  Blackstone's  Commentaries, 
Tie  observed,  with  emphasis,  that,  if  he  had  possessed 
that  book,  when  commencing  his  study  of  the  law,  it 
would  have  saved  him  seven  years'  labor.  Would 
those  seven  years  have  borne  no  fruit,  to  a  mind  like 
that  of  James  Otis  ?  Though  the  use  of  elementary 
treatises,  of  this  kind,  may  have  the  effect  to  make  ma- 
ny superficial  jurists,  who  would  otherwise  have  been 
no  jurists  at  all,  I  deem  it  mere  popular  prejudice  to 
suppose,  that  the  march  of  original  genius,  to  the  heights 
of  learning,  has  been  impeded,  by  the  possession  of 
these  modern  facilities,  to  aid  its  progress.  To  main- 
tain this  seems  to  be  little  else  than  to  condemn,  as 
worthless,  the  wisdom  of  the  ages  which  have  gone  be- 
fore us.  It  is  surely  absurd,  to  suppose  that  we  can 
do  no  more,  with  the  assistance  of  our  predecessors, 
than  without  it ;  that  the  teachings  of  one  genera- 
tion, instead  of  enlightening,  confound  and  stupify  that 
which  succeeds ;  and  that,  "  when  we  stand  on  the 
shoulders  of  our  ancestors,  we  cannot  see  so  far  as  from 
the  ground."  On  the  contrary,  it  is  unquestionably 
one  of  the  happiest  laws  of  intellectual  progress,  that 
the  judicious  labors,  the  profound  reasonings,  the  sub- 
lime discoveries,  the  generous  sentiments,  of  great  in- 
tellects, rapidly  work  their  way  into  the  common  chan- 
nel of  public  opinion,  find  access  to  the  general  mind, 
raise  the  universal  standard  of  attainment,  correct  pop- 
ular errors,  promote  arts  of  daily  application,  and  come 


228  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF   KNOWLEDGE. 

home,  at  last,  to  the  fireside,  in  the  shape  of  increased 
intelligence,  skill,  comfort,  and  virtue  ;  which,  in  their 
turn,  by  an  instantaneous  reaction,  multiply  the  num- 
bers, and  facilitate  the  efforts,  of  those,  who  engage  in 
the  further  investigation  and  discovery  of  truth.  In 
this  way,  a  constant  circulation,  like  that  of  the  life- 
blood,  takes  place  in  the  intellectual  world.  Truth 
travels  doiwn,  from  the  heights  of  philosophy  to  the 
humblest  walks  of  life,  and  up,  from  the  simplest  per- 
ceptions of  an  awakened  intellect  to  the  discoveries, 
which  almost  change  the  face  of  the  world.  At  every 
stage  of  its  progress,  it  is  genial,  luminous,  creative. 
When  first  struck  out,  by  some  distinguished  genius,  it 
may  address  itself  only  to  a  few  minds,  of  kindred  pow- 
er. It  exists,  then,  only  in  the  highest  forms  of  science ; 
it  corrects  former  systems,  and  authorizes  new  gener- 
alizations. Discussion  and  controversy  begin,  more 
truth  is  elicited,  more  errors  exploded,  more  doubts 
cleared  up,  more  phenomena  drawn  into  the  circle, 
unexpected  connexions  of  kindred  sciences  are  traced, 
and,  in  each  step  of  the  progress,  the  number  rapidly 
grows,  of  those  who  are  prepared  to  comprehend  and 
carry  on  some  branches  of  the  investigation, — till,  in 
the  lapse  of  time,  every  order  of  intellect  has  been  kin- 
dled, from  that  of  the  sublime  discoverer  to  the  prac- 
tical machinist ;  and  every  department  of  knowledge 
been  enlarged,  from  the  most  abstruse  and  transcen- 
dental theory  to  the  daily  arts  of  life. 

I  presume,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  deduce,  from 
the  discovery  and  demonstration  of  the  law  of  gravity, 
attainments  in  useful  knowledge,  which  come  home, 
every  day,  to  the  business  and  bosoms  of  men  ;  enlight- 
ening the  mass  of  the  community,  who  have  received 
a  common  education,  on  points,  concerning  which  the 
greatest  philosophers  of  former  times  were  at  fault. 
Bold  as  the  remark  sounds,  there  is  not  a  young  man, 
who  will  to-morrow  receive  his  degree  on  this  stage, 
who  could  not  correct  Lord  Bacon,  in  many  a  grave 
point  of  natural  science.  This  great  man  questioned 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  229 

the  rotation  of  the  earth  on  its  axis,  after  it  had  been 
affirmed  by  Copernicus,  Kepler,  and  Galileo.  He  states, 
positively,  that  he  judges  the  work  of  making  gold 
possible,*  and  even  goes  so  far,  after  condemning  the 
procedure  of  the  alchymists,  as  to  propound  his  own. 
Finally,  he  says,  it  "  is  not  impossible,  and  I  have  heard 
it  verified,  that,  upon  cutting  down  of  an  old  timber 
tree,  the  stub  hath  put  out,  sometimes,  a  tree  of  another 
kind,  as  that  beech  hath  put  forth  birch  ;  which,  if  it 
be  true,"  the  Chancellor  discreetly  adds,  "  the  cause 
may  be,  for  that  the  old  stub  is  too  scanty  of  juice  to 
put  forth  the  former  tree,  and  therefore  putteth  forth  a 
tree  of  a  smaller  kind,  that  needeth  less  nourishment."f 
Surely  no  man  can  doubt,  that  the  cause  of  true  science 
has  been  promoted  by  such  a  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
as  has  eradicated  even  from  the  common  mind,  such 
errors  as  these,  from  which,  notwithstanding  their  gross- 
ness,  the  greatest  minds  of  other  times  could  not  eman- 
cipate themselves. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  even  for  the  boldest  intellects, 
to  work  themselves  free  of  all  those  popular  errors, 
which  form  a  part,  as  it  were,  of  the  intellectual  atmos- 
phere in  which  they  have  passed  their  lives.  Coperni- 
cus was  one  of  the  boldest  theorists  that  ever  lived,  but 
was  so  enslaved,  by  the  existing  popular  errors,  as,  even 
while  proposing  his  own  simple  and  magnificently  beau 
tiful  theory  of  the  heavens,  to  retain  some  of  the  most 
absurd  and  complicated  contrivances  of  the  Ptolemaic 
scheme.!  Kepler  was  one  of  the  most  sagacious  and 
original  of  philosophers,  and  the  laws,  which  bear  his 
name,  have  been  declared,  on  respectable  authority, 
"  the  foundations  of  the  whole  theory  of  Newton ;" 

*  "  The  world  hath  been  much  abased  by  the  opinion  of  making 
gold.  The  work,  itself,  I  judge  to  be  possible  ;  but  the  means  hitherto 
propounded  to  effect  it  are,  in  the  practice,  full  of  error  and  impos- 
ture, and,  in  the  theory,  full  of  unsound  imaginations." — Lord  Eacon'a 
Works,  Vol.  I.  p.  204. 

t  Lord  Bacon's  Works,  Vol.  I.  p.  241. 

t  Dr.  Small's  Account  of  the  Astronomical  Discoveries  of  Kepler, 
Chap.  III.  and  VIII. 

20  E.  E. 


230  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

but  he  believed  that  the  planets  were  monstrous  ani- 
mals, swimming  in  the  ethereal  fluid,  and  speaks  of 
storms  and  tempests  as  the  pulmonary  heavings  of  the 
great  Leviathan,  the  earth,  breathing  out  hurricanes 
from  its  secret  spiracles,  in  the  valleys  and  among  the 
hills.  It  may  raise  our  admiration  of  this  extraordina- 
ry man,  that,  with  notions  so  confused  and  irrational, 
he  should,  by  a  life  of  indefatigable  research,  discover 
some  of  the  sublimest  laws  of  Nature  ;  but  no  one  can 
so  superstitiously  reverence  the  past,  no  one  so  blindly 
undervalue  the  utility  of  the  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
as  not  to  feel,  that  these  absurdities  must  have  hung 
like  a  millstone  about  the  necks  of  the  strongest  minds 
of  former  ages,  and  dragged  them,  in  the  midst  of  their 
boldest  flights,  to  the  dust.  When  I  behold  minds  like 
these,  fitted  to  range,  with  the  boldest  step,  in  the  paths 
of  investigation,  bound  down  by  subjection  to  gross 
prevailing  errors,  but,  at  length,  by  a  happy  effort  of 
native  sense,  or  successful  study,  grasping  at  the  dis- 
covery of  some  noble  truth,  it  brings  to  my  mind  Mil- 
ton's somewhat  fantastical  description  of  the  creation 
of  the  animals,  in  which  the  great  beasts  of  the  forest, 
not  wholly  formed,  are  striving  to  be  released  from  their 
native  earth : 

• "  now  half  nppeared 

The  tawny  lion,  struggling  to  get  free 

His  hinder  parts,  then  springs,  as  burst  from  bonds, 

And  rampant  shakes  his  brinded  mane." 

In  short,  when  we  consider  the  laws  of  the  human 
mind,  and  the  path  by  which  the  understanding  marches 
to  the  discovery  of  truth,  we  must  see  that  it  is  the 
necessary  consequence  of  the  general  diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge, that  it  should  promote  the  progress  of  science. 
Since  the  time  of  Lord  Bacon,  it  has  been  more  and 
more  generally  admitted,  that  the  only  path  to  true 
knowledge  is  the  study  and  observation  of  Nature,  either 
in  the  phenomena  of  the  external  creation,  or  in  the 
powers  and  operations  of  the  human  mind.  This  does 
not  exclude  the  judicious  use  of  books,  which  record 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  231 

the  observations  and  the  discoveries  of  others,  and  are 
of  inestimable  value,  in  guiding  the  mind  in  its  own  in- 
dependent researches.  They  are,  in  fact,  not  its  nec- 
essary, but  its  most  usual  instruments  ;  and  as  the  book 
of  Nature  is  never  so  well  perused,  as  with  the  assistance 
of  the  learned  and  prudent,  who  have  studied  it  before 
us,  so  the  true  and  profitable  use  of  books  is,  to  furnish 
materials,  on  which  other  minds  can  act,  and  to  facili- 
tate their  observation  of  Nature. 

I  know  not  where  I  could  find  a  better  illustration  of 
their  value,  and  of  their  peculiar  aptitude  to  further  the 
progress  of  knowledge,  than  in  the  admirable  report  on 
the  geology  of  Massachusetts,  which  has  recently  ema- 
nated from  this  place.*  Under  the  enlightened  patron- 
age of  the  Commonwealth,  a  member  of  the  Faculty  of 
this  Institution  has  set  before  the  citizens  of  the  State 
such  a  survey  of  its  territory,  such  an  inventory  of  its 
natural  wealth,  such  a  catalogue  of  its  productions,  in 
the  animal,  the  vegetable,  but  chiefly  in  the  mineral, 
world,  as  cannot  be  contemplated,  without  gratification 
and  pride.  By  one  noble  effort  of  learned  industry  and 
vigorous  intellectual  labor,  the  whole  science  of  geology, 
one  of  the  great  mental  creations  of  modern  times,  has 
been  brought  home,  and  applied  to  the  illustration  of 
our  native  State.  There  is  not  a  citizen,  who  has  learn- 
ed to  read,  in  the  humblest  village  of  Massachusetts, 
from  the  hills  of  Berkshire  to  the  sands  of  Nantucket, 
who  has  not  now  placed  within  his  reach  the  means  of 
beholding,  with  a  well-informed  eye,  either  in  his  im- 
mediate neighborhood,  or  in  any  part  of  the  State  to 
which  he  may  turn  his  attention,  the  hills  and  the  vales, 
the  rocks  and  the  rivers,  the  soil  and  the  quarrries,  that 
lie  beneath  it.  Who  can  doubt,  that,  out  of  the  hun- 
dreds, the  thousands,  of  liberal  minds,  in  every  part  of 
the  Commonwealth,  which  must  thus  be  awakened  to 
the  intelligent  observation  of  Nature,  thus  helped  over 
the  elementary  difficulties  of  the  science,  not  a  few  will 

*  Report  on  the  Geology,  Mineralogy,  Botany,  and  Zoology,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, by  Professor  Hitchcock 


232  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

be  effectually  put  upon  the  track  of  independent  inqui- 
ries and  original  attainments  in  science  ! 

We  are  confirmed  in  the  conclusion,  that  the  popular 
diffusion  of  knowledge  is  favorable  to  the  growth  of 
science,  by  the  reflection,  that,  vast  as  is  the  domain  of 
learning,  and  extraordinary  as  is  the  progress  which  has 
been  made,  in  almost  every  branch,  it  may  be  assumed 
as  certain, — I  will  not  say,  that  we  are  in  its  infancy, 
but,  as  truth  is  as  various  as  Nature,  and  as  boundless 
as  creation, — that  the  discoveries  already  made,  won- 
derful as  they  are,  bear  but  a  small  proportion  to  those 
that  will  hereafter  be  effected.  In  the  yet  unexplored 
wonders  and  yet  unascertained  laws  of  the  heavens ;  in 
the  affinities  of  the  natural  properties  of  bodies  ;  in 
magnetism,  galvanism,  and  electricity ;  in  light  and 
heat ;  in  the  combination  and  application  of  the  me- 
chanical powers ;  the  use  of  steam  ;  the  analysis  of 
mineral  products ;  of  liquid  and  aeriform  fluids ;  in  the 
application  of  the  arts  and  sciences  to  improvements  in 
husbandry,  to  manufactures,  to  navigation,  to  letters, 
and  to  education ;  in  the  great  department  of  the  phi- 
losophy of  the  mind,  and  the  realm  of  morals  ;  and,  in 
short,  to  every  thing  that  belongs  to  the  improvement 
of  man, — there  is  yet  a  field  of  investigation,  broad 
enough  to  satisfy  the  most  eager  thirst  for  knowledge, 
and  diversified  enough  to  suit  every  variety  of  taste,  or- 
der of  intellect,  or  degree  of  qualification. 

For  the  peaceful  victories  of  the  mind,  that  unknown 
and  unconquered  world,  for  which  Alexander  wept,  is 
for  ever  near  at  hand  ;  hidden,  indeed,  as  yet,  behind 
the  veil  with  which  Nature  shrouds  her  undiscovered 
mysteries,  but  stretching  all  along  the  confines  of  the 
domain  of  knowledge,  sometimes  nearest  when  least 
suspected.  The  foot  has  not  yet  pressed,  nor  the  eye 
beheld  it ;  but  the  mind,  in  its  deepest  musings,  in  its 
widest  excursions,  will  sometimes  catch  a  glimpse  of 
the  hidden  realm,  a  gleam  of  light  from  the  Hesperian 
Island,  a  fresh  and  fragrant  breeze  from  off  the  undis- 
covered land, 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  233 

"  Sabsean  odors  from  the  spicy  shore," 

which  happier  voyagers,  in  aftertimes,  will  approach, 
explore,  and  inhabit.  Who  has  not  felt,  when,  with  his 
very  soul  concentred  in  his  eyes,  while  the  world  around 
him  is  wrapped  in  sleep,  he  gazes  into  the  holy  depths 
of  the  midnighlf  heavens,  or  wanders,  in  contemplation, 
among  the  worlds  and  systems  that  sweep  through  the 
immensity  of  space, — who  has  not  felt,  as  if  their  mys- 
tery must  yet  more  fully  yield  to  the  ardent,  unwearied, 
imploring  research  of  patient  science  ?  Who  does  not, 
in  those  choice  and  blessed  moments,  in  which  the  world 
and  its  interests  are  forgotten,  and  the  spirit  retires  into 
the  inmost  sanctuary  of  its  own  meditations,  and  there, 
unconscious  of  every  thing  but  itself  and  the  infinite 
Perfection,  of  which  it  is  the  earthly  type,  and  kindling 
the  flame  of  thought  on  the  altar  of  prayer, — who  does 
not  feel,  in  moments  like  these,  as  if  it  must,  at  last,  be 
given  to  man,  to  fathom  the  great  secret  of  his  own  be- 
ing ;  to  solve  the  mighty  problem 

"  Of  Providence,  foreknowledge,  will,  and  fat^-!" 

When  I  think,  in  what  slight  elements  the  great  dis- 
coveries, that  have  changed  the  condition  of  the  world, 
have  oftentimes  originated ;  on  the  entire  revolution,  in 
political  and  social  affairs,  which  has  resulted  from  the 
.use  of  the  magnetic  needle ;  on  the  world  of  wronders, 
teeming  with  the  most  important  scientific  discoveries, 
which  has  been  opened  by  the  telescope ;  on  the  all- 
controlling  influence  of  so  simple  an  invention  as  that 
of  movable  metallic  types ;  on  the  effects  of  the  inven- 
tion of  gunpowder,  the  result,  perhaps,  of  some  idle  ex- 
periment in  alchymy  ;  on  the  consequences  of  the  appli- 
cation of  the  vapor  of  boiling  water  to  the  manufacturing 
arts,  to  navigation,  and  transportation  by  land;  on  the 
results  of  a  single  sublime  conception,  in  the  mind  of 
Newton,  on  which  he  erected,  as  on  a  foundation,  the 
glorious  temple  of  the  system  of  the  heavens  ; — in  fine, 
when  I  consider  how,  from  the  great  master-principle 
of  the  philosophy  of  Bacon, — the  induction  of  truth 
20* 


234  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF   KNOWLEDGE. 

from  the  observation  of  fact, — has  flowed,  as  from  a 
living  fountain,  the  fresh  and  still  swelling  stream  of 
modern  science,  I  am  almost  oppressed  with  the  idea 
of  the  probable  connexion  of  the  truths  already  known, 
with  great  principles  which  remain  undiscovered  ;  of 
the  proximity  in  which  we  may  unconsciously  stand,  to 
the  most  astonishing,  though  yet  unrevealed,  mysteries 
of  the  material  and  intellectual  world. 

If,  after  thus  considering  the  seemingly  obvious 
sources,  from  which  the  most  important  discoveries 
and  improvements  have  sprung,  we  inquire  into  the 
extent  of  the  field,  in  which  further  discoveries  are  to 
be  made,  which  is  no  other  and  no  less  than  the  entire 
natural  and  spiritual  creation  of  God,  a  grand  and  love- 
ly system,  even  as  we  imperfectly  apprehend  it,  but,  no 
doubt,  most  grand,  lovely,  and  harmonious,  beyond  all 
that  we  now  conceive  or  imagine ;  when  we  reflect 
that  the  most  insulated,  seemingly  disconnected,  and 
even  contradictory,  parts  of  the  system  are,  no  doubt, 
bound  together,  as  portions  of  one  stupendous  whole ; 
and  that  those,  which  are  at  present  the  least  explica- 
ble, and  which  most  completely  defy  the  penetration 
hitherto  bestowed  upon  them,  are  as  intelligible,  in 
reality,  as  that  which  seems  most  plain  and  clear;  that, 
as  every  atom  in  the  universe  attracts  every  other  atom, 
and  is  attracted  by  it,  so  every  truth  stands  in  harmoni- 
ous connexion  with  every  other  trutli ; — we  are  brought 
directly  to  the  conclusion,  that  every  portion  of  knowl- 
edge, now  possessed,  every  obserfed  fact,  every  demon- 
strated principle,  is  a  clew,  which  we  hold  by  one  end 
in  the  hand,  and  which  is  capable  of  guiding  the  faith- 
ful inquirer  further  and  further  into  the  inmost  recesses 
of  the  labyrinth  of  Nature.  Ages  on  ages  may  elapse, 
before  it  conduct  the  patient  intellect  to  the  wonders 
of  science,  to  which  it  will  eventually  lead  him  ;  and 
perhaps  with  the  next  step  he  takes,  he  will  reach  the 
goal,  and  principles,  destined  to  affect  the  condition  of 
millions,  beam  in  characters  of  light  upon  his  under 
standing.  What  was,  at  once,  more  unexpected  and 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF   KNOWLEDGE.  235 

more  obvious,  than  Newton's  discovery  of  the  nature 
of  light?  Every  living  being,  since  the  creation  of  the 
world,  had  gazed  on  the  rainbow ;  to  none  had  the 
beautiful  mystery  revealed  itself.  And  even  the  great 
philosopher  himself,  while  dissecting  the  solar  beam, 
and,  as  it  were,  untwisting  the  golden  and  silver  threads 
that  compose  the  ray  of  light,  laid  open  but  half  its 
wonders.  And  who  shall  say,  that  to  us,  to  whom,  as 
we  think,  modern  science  has  disclosed  the  residue, 
truths  more  wonderful  than  those  now  known,  will  not 
yet  be  revealed  ? 

It  is,  therefore,  by  no  means  to  be  inferred,  because 
the  human  mind  has  seemed  to  linger,  for  a  long  time, 
around  certain  results,  as  ultimate  principles,  that  they 
and  the  principles  closely  connected  with  them,  are  not 
likely  to  be  pushed  much  further;  nor,  on  the  other 
hand,  does  the  intellect  always  require  much  time,  to 
bring  its  noblest  fruits  to  seeming  perfection.  It  was, 
I  suppose,  about  two  thousand  years,  from  the  time 
when  the  peculiar  properties  of  the  magnet  were  first 
observed,  before  it  became,  through  the  means  of  those 
qualities,  the  pilot,  which  guided  Columbus  to  the  Amer- 
ican continent.  Before  the  invention  of  the  compass 
could  take  full  effect,  it  was  necessary  that  some  navi- 
gator should  practically  and  boldly  grasp  the  idea  that 
the  globe  is  round.  The  two  truths  are  apparently 
without  connexion ;  but,  in  their  application  to  prac- 
tice, they  are  intimately  associated.  Hobbes  says,  that 
Dr.  Harvey,  the  illustrious  discoverer  of  the  circulation 
of  the  blood,  is  the  only  author  of  a  great  discovery, 
who  ever  lived  to  see  it  universally  adopted.  To  the 
honor  of  subsequent  science,  this  remark  could  not 
now,  with  equal  truth,  be  made.  Nor  was  Harvey, 
himself,  without  some  painful  experience  of  the  obsta- 
cles arising  from  popular  ignorance,  against  which  truth 
sometimes  forces  its  way  to  general  acceptance.  When 
he  first  proposed  the  beautiful  doctrine,  his  practice  fell 
off;  people  would  not  continue  to  trust  their  lives  in  the 
hands  of  such  a  dreamer.  When  it  was  firmly  establish- 


236  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

ed,  and  generally  received,  one  of  his  opponents  publish- 
ed a  tract,  de  circulo  sanguinis  Salomoneo*  and  tried 
to  prove,  from  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes,  that 
the  circulation  of  the  blood  was  no  secret,  in  the  time 
of  Solomon.  The  whole  doctrine  of  the  Reformation 
may  be  found  in  the  writings  of  Wiclif ;  but  neither 
he  nor  his  age  felt  the  importance  of  his  principles,  nor 
the  consequences  to  which  they  led.  Huss  had  studied 
the  writings  of  Wiclif  in  manuscript,  and  was  in  no 
degree  behind  him,  in  the  boldness  with  which  he  de- 
nounced the  papal  usurpations.  But  his  voice  was  not 
heard  beyond  the  mountains  of  Bohemia ;  he  expired, 
in  agony,  at  the  stake,  and  his  ashes  were  scattered 
upon  the  Rhine.  A  hundred  years  passed  away.  Lu- 
ther, like  an  avenging  angel,  burst  upon  the  world,  and 
denounced  the  corruptions  of  the  church,  and  rallied 
the  host  of  the  faithful,  with  a  voice  which  might  almost 
call  up  those  ashes  from  their  watery  grave,  and  form  and 
kindle  them,  again,  into  a  living  witness  to  the  truth. 
Thus  Providence,  which  has  ends  innumerable  to 
answer,  in  the  conduct  of  the  physical  and  intellectual, 
as  of  the  moral,  world,  sometimes  permits  the  great  dis- 
coverers fully  to  enjoy  their  fame  ;  sometimes,  to  catch 
but  a  glimpse  of  the  extent  of  their  achievements  ;  and 
sometimes  sends  them,  dejected  and  heart-broken,  to 
the  grave,  unconscious  of  the  importance  of  their  own 
discoveries,  and  not  merely  undervalued  by  their  con- 
temporaries, but  by  themselves.  It  is  plain,  that  Co- 
pernicus, like  his  great  contemporary,  Columbus,  though 
fully  conscious  of  the  boldness  and  the  novelty  of  his 
doctrine,  saw  but  a  part  of  the  changes  it  was  to  effect 
in  science.  After  harboring  in  his  bosom,  for  long, 
long  years,  the  conception  of  the  solar  system,  he  died, 
on  the  day  of  the  appearance  of  his  book  from  the 
press.  The  closing  scene  of  his  life,  with  a  little  help 
from  the  imagination,  would  furnish  a  noble  subject  for 
an  artist.  For  thirty-five  years,  he  has  revolved  and 

*  On  the  Circulation  of  the  Blood,  as  known  to  Solomon. 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  237 

matured,  in  his  mind,  his  system  of  the  heavens.  A 
natural  mildness  of  disposition,  bordering  on  timidity, 
a  reluctance  to  encounter  controversy,  and  a  dread  of 
persecution,  have  led  him  to  withhold  his  work  from 
the  press,  and  to  make  known  his  system  but  to  a  few 
confidential  disciples  and  friends.  At  length,  he  draws 
near  his  end ;  he  is  seventy-three  years  of  age,  and  he 
yields  his  work  on  '  The  Revolutions  of  the  Heavenly 
Orbs'  to  his  friends,  for  publication.  The  day,  at  last, 
lias  come,  on  which  it  is  to  be  ushered  into  the  world. 
It  is  the  twenty-fourth  of  May,  1543.  On  that  day, — 
the  effect,  perhaps,  of  the  intense  excitement  of  his 
mind,  operating  upon  an  exhausted  frame, — an  effu- 
sion of  blood  brings  him  to  the  gates  of  the  grave.  His 
last  hour  has  come ;  he  lies,  stretched  upon  the  couch 
from  which  he  will  never  rise,  in  his  apartment  at  the 
Canonry  at  Frauenberg,  in  East  Prussia.  The  beams 
of  the  setting  sun  glance  through  the  Gothic  windows 
of  his  chamber  ;  near  his  bedside  is  the  armillary  sphere, 
which  he  has  contrived,  to  represent  his  theory  of  the 
heavens ;  his  picture,  painted  by  himself,  the  amusement 
of  his  earlier  years,  hangs  before  him ;  beneath  it,  his 
astrolabe,  and  other  imperfect  astronomical  instruments ; 
and  around  him  are  gathered  his  sorrowing  disciples. 
The  door  of  the  apartment  opens  ;  the  eye  of  the  de- 
parting sage  is  turned,  to  see  who  enters :  it  is  a  friend, 
who  brings  him  the  first  printed  copy  of  his  immortal 
treatise  He  knows  that  in  that  book  he  contradicts 
all  that  aad  ever  been  distinctly  taught  by  former  phi- 
losophers ;  he  knows  that  he  has  rebelled  against  the 
sway  of  Ptolemy,  which  the  scientific  world  had  ac- 
knowledged for  a  thousand  years ;  he  knows  that  the 
popular  mind  will  be  shocked  by  his  innovations ;  he 
knows  that  the  attempt  will  be  made  to  press  even  re- 
ligion into  the  service  against  him ;  but  he  knows  that 
his  book  is  true.  He  is  dying,  but  he  leaves  a  glorious 
truth,  as  his  dying  bequest,  to  the  world.  He  bids  the 
friend,  who  has  brought  it,  place  himself  between  the 
window  and  his  bedside,  that  the  sun's  rays  may  fall 


238  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

upon  the  precious  Volume,  and  he  may  behold  it  once, 
before  his  eye  grows  dim.  He  looks  upon  it,  takes  it 
in  his  hands,  presses  it  to  his  breast,  and  expires.  But 
no,  he  is  not  wholly  gone !  A  smile  lights  up  his 
dying  countenance ;  a  beam  of  returning  intelligence 
kindles  in  his  eye ;  his  lips  move  ;  and  the  friend,  who 
leans  over  him,  can  hear  him  faintly  murmur  the  beau- 
tiful sentiments,  which  the  Christian  lyrist,  of  a  later 
age,  has  so  finely  expressed  in  verse : — 

"  Ye  golden  lamps  of  heaven,  farewell,  with  all  your  feeble  light  ! 

Farewell,  thou  ever-changing  moon,  pale  empress  of  the  night  ! 

And  thou,  refulgent  orb  of  day,  in  brighter  flames  arrayed, 

My  soul,  which  springs  beyond  thy  sphere,  no  more  demands  thy  aid  : 

Ye  stars  are  but  the  shining  dust  of  my  divine  abode, 

The  pavement  of  those  heavenly  courts,  where  I  shall  reign  with  God!" 

So  died  the  great  Columbus  of  the  heavens.*  His 
doctrine,  at  first,  for  want  of  a  general  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  forced  its  way  with  difficulty  against  the 
deep-rooted  prejudices  of  the  age.  Tycho  Brahe  at- 
tempted to  restore  the  absurdities  of  the  Ptolemaic 
system  ;  but  Kepler,  with  a  sagacity  which  more  than 
atones  for  all  his  strange  fancies,  laid  hold  of  the  theory 
of  Copernicus,  with  a  grasp  of  iron,  and  dragged  it  into 
repute.  Galileo  turned  his  telescope  to  the  heavens, 
and  observed  the  phases  of  Venus,  w-hich  Copernicus 
boldly  predicted  must  be  discovered,  as  his  theory  re- 
quired their  appearance ;  and,  lastly,  Newton  arose, 
like  a  glorious  sun,  scattering  the  mists  of  doubt  and 
opposition,  and  ascended  the  heavens,  full-orbed  and 
cloudless,  establishing,  at  once,  his  own  renown  and 
that  of  his  predecessors,  and  crowned  with  the  applauses 
of  the  world  ;  but  declaring,  with  that  admirable  mod- 
esty, which  marked  his  character,  "  I  do  not  know  what 
I  may  appear  to  the  world  ;  but,  to  myself,  I  seem  to 
have  been  only  like  a  boy,  playing  on  the  seashore,  and 
diverting  myself,  in  finding  now  and  then  a  pebble,  or 
a  prettier  shell  than  ordinary,  while  the  great  ocean  of 
truth  lay  all  undiscovered  before  me."f 

*  Nicolai  Copernici  Vita.     Opera  Petri  Gassendi,  Tom.  v.  p.  451. 
t  Brewster's  Life  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  page  301. 


GENERAL,  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  239 

But,  whether  the  progress  of  any  particular  discovery, 
toward  a  general  reception,  be  prompt  or  tardy,  it  is 
one  of  the  laws  of  intellectual  influence,  as  it  is  one 
of  the  great  principles,  on  which  we  maintain,  that  the 
general  diffusion  of  knowledge  is  favorable  to  the  growth 
of  science ;  that,  whatsoever  be  the  fortune  of  in- 
ventors and  discoverers,  the  invention  and  discovery 
are  immortal ;  the  teacher  dies  in  honor  or  neglect, 
but  his  doctrine  survives.  Fagots  may  consume  his 
frame,  but  the  truths  he  taught,  like  the  spirit  it  en- 
closed, can  never  die.  Partial  and  erroneous  views 
may  even  retard  his  own  mind,  in  the  pursuit  of  a 
fruitful  thought ;  but  the  errors  of  one  age  are  the 
guides  of  the  next ;  and  the  failure  of  one  great  mind 
but  puts  its  successor  on  a  different  track,  and  teaches 
him  to  approach  the  object,  from  a  new  point  of  obser- 
vation. 

In  estimating  the  effect  of  a  popular  system  of  edu- 
cation upon  the  growth  of  science,  it  is  necessary  to 
bear  in  mind  a  circumstance,  in  which  the  present  age 
and  that  which  preceded  it  are  strongly  discriminated 
from  former  periods  ;  and  that  is,  the  vastly  greater 
extent,  to  which  science  exists  among  men,  who  do 
not  appear  before  the  world  as  authors.  Since  the 
dawn  of  civilization  on  Egypt  and  Asia  Minor,  there 
never  have  been  wanting  individuals,  sometimes  many 
flourishing  at  the  same  time,  who  have  made  the  most 
distinguished  attainments  in  knowledge.  Such,  how- 
ever, has  been  the  condition  of  the  world,  that  they 
formed  a  class  by  themselves.  Their  knowledge  was 
transmitted  in  schools,  often  under  sfYict  injunctions 
of  secrecy  ;  or,  if  recorded  in  books,  for  want  of  the 
press,  and  owing  to  the  constitution  of  society,  it  made 
but  little  impression  on  the  mass  of  the  community  and 
the  business  of  life.  As  far  as  there  is  any  striking  ex- 
ception to  this  remark,  it  is  in  the  free  states  of  antiq- 
uity, in  which,  through  the  medium  of  the  popular 
organization  of  the  governments,  and  the  necessity  of 
constant  appeals  to  the  people,  the  cultivated  intellect 


240  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

was  brought  into  close  association  with  the  understand- 
ings of  the  majority  of  men.  This  fact  may  perhaps 
go  far  to  explain  the  astonishing  energy  and  enduring 
power  of  the  Grecian  civilization,  which  remains,  to  this 
day,  after  all  that  has  been  said  to  explain  it,  one  of 
the  most  extraordinary  facts  in  the  history  of  the  human 
mind.  But,  from  the  period  of  the  downfall  of  the 
Roman  republic,  and,  more  especially,  after  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  feudal  system,  the  division  of  the  com- 
munity into  four  classes,  namely,  the  landed  aristocracy, 
or  nobles  and  gentry ;  the  spiritual  aristocracy,  or 
priesthood  ;  the  inhabitants  of  the  cities  ;  and  the  peas- 
antry ;  (a  division  which  has,  in  modern  Europe,  been 
considerably  modified,  in  some  countries  more  and  in 
some  less,'  but  in  none  wholly  obliterated,)  the  action 
and  manifestation  of  knowledge  were,  till  a  compara- 
tively recent  period,  almost  monopolized  by  the  two 
higher  classes ;  and  in  their  hands  it  assumed,  in  a 
great  degree,  a  literary,  by  which  I  mean,  a  book,  form. 
Such,  of  course,  must  ever,  with  reasonable  qualifica- 
tions, continue  to  be  the  case ;  and  books  will  always 
be,  in  a  great  degree,  the  vehicle  by  which  knowledge 
is  to  be  communicated,  preserved,  and  transmitted. 

But  it  is  impossible  to  overlook  the  fact, — it  is  one 
of  the  most  characteristic  features  of  the  civilization  of 
the  age, — that  this  is  far  less  exclusively  the  case,  than 
at  any  former  period.  The  community  is  filled  with  an 
incalculable  amount  of  unwritten  knowledge,  of  science 
which  never  will  be  committed  to  paper,  by  the  active 
men  who  possess  it,  and  which  has  been  acquired,  on 
the  basis  of  a  good  education,  by  observation,  experi- 
ence, and  the  action  of  the  mind  itself.  A  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago,  it  is  doubtful  whether,  out  of  the 
observatories  and  universities,  there  were  ten  men  in 
Europe  who  could  ascertain  the  longitude  by  lunar  ob- 
servation. At  the  present  day,  scarce  a  vessel  sails  to 
foreign  lands,  in  the  public  or  mercantile  service,  in 
which  the  process  is  not  understood.  In  like  manner, 
in  our  manufacturing  establishments,  in  the  construction 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  241 

and  direction  of  rail-roads  and  canals,  on  the  improved 
farms  throughout  the  country,  there  is  possessed,  em- 
bodied, and  brought  into  action,  a  vast  deal  of  useful 
knowledge,  of  which  its  possessors  will  never  make  a 
literary  use,  for  the  composition  of  a  book,  but  which  is 
daily  employed,  to  the  signal  advantage  of  the  country. 
Much  of  it  is  directly  derived  from  a  study  of  the  great 
book  of  Nature,  whose  pages  are  written  by  the  hand 
of  God ;  and  which,  in  no  part  of  the  civilized  world, 
has  been  more  faithfully  or  profitably  studied,  than  in 
New  England.  The  intelligent  population  of  the  coun- 
try, furnished  with  the  keys  of  knowledge  at  our  insti- 
tutions of  education,  have  addressed  themselves  to  the 
further  acquisition  of  useful  science, — to  its  acquisition 
at  once,  and  application, — with  a  vigor,  a  diligence,  a 
versatility,  and  a  success,  which  are  the  admiration  of 
the  world. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed,  that  I  wish  to  disconnect  this 
diffusive  science  from  that  which  is  recorded  and  prop- 
agated in  books ;  to  do  this  would  be  to  reverse  the 
error  of  former  ages.  It  is  the  signal  improvement  of 
the  present  day,  that  the  action  and  reaction  of  book- 
learning  and  general  intelligence  are  so  prompt,  in- 
tense, and  all-pervading.  The  moment  a  discovery  is 
made,  a  principle  demonstrated,  a  proposition  advanced 
through  the  medium  of  the  press,  in  any  part  of  the 
world,  it  finds  immediately  a  host,  numberless  as  the 
sands  of  the  sea,  prepared  to  take  it  up,  to  canvass, 
confirm,  refute,  or  pursue,  it.  At  every  waterfall,  on 
the  line  of  every  canal  and  rail-road,  in  the  counting- 
room  of  every  factory  and  mercantile  establishment,  on 
the  quarter-deck  of  every  ship  which  navigates  the  high 
seas,  on  the  farm  of  every  intelligent  husbandman,  in 
the  workshop  of  every  skilful  mechanic,  at  the  desk  of 
the  schoolmaster,  in  the  office  of  the  lawyer,  the  study 
of  the  physician  and  clergyman,  at  the  fireside  of  every 
man,  who  has  had  the  elements  of  a  good  education, 
not  less  than  in  the  professed  retreats  of  learning,  there 
is  an  intellect  to  seize,  to  weigh,  and  appropriate,  the 
21  K.  E. 


242  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

suggestion,  whether  it  belong  to  the  world  of  science, 
of  taste,  or  of  morals. 

In  some  countries,  there  may  be  more,  and  in  some 
less,  of  this  latent  intellectual  power ;  latent,  I  call  it,  in 
reference,  not  to  its  action  on  life,  but  to  its  display  in 
books.  In  some  countries,  the  books  are  in  advance 
of  the  people,  in  others  greatly  behind  them.  In  Eu- 
rope, as  compared  with  America,  the  advantage  is  in 
favor  of  the  books.  The  restraint  imposed  upon  the 
mind,  in  reference  to  all  political  questions,  has  had  the 
effect  of  driving  more  than  a  proportion  of  the  intellect 
of  that  part  of  the  world  into  the  cultivation  of  science 
and  literature,  as  a  profession  ;  and  if  we  were  to  judge 
merely  from  the  character  of  a  few  great  works  pub- 
lished at  the  expense  of  the  government,  and  the  at- 
tainments of  a  few  individuals,  Italy  and  Austria  would 
stand  on  a  level  with  Great  Britain  and  France.  The 
great  difference  between  nation  and  nation,  in  refer- 
ence to  knowledge,  is,  in  fact,  in  no  small  degree,  in 
this  very  distinction.  In  reference  to  the  attainments 
of  scholars  and  men  of  science  by  profession,  of  which 
some  few  are  found  in  every  civilized  country,  all  na- 
tions may  be  considered  as  forming  one  intellectual  re- 
public ;  but  in  reference  to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge 
among  the  people,  its  action  on  the  character  of  nations, 
its  fruitful  influence  on  society,  the  most  important  dif- 
ferences exist  between  different  countries. 

III.  There  remains  to  be  discussed  the  last  topic  of 
our  address, — the  influence  of  a  general  diffusion  of 
knowledge  on  morals,  a  point,  which,  if  it  were  debata- 
ble, would  raise  a  question  of  portentous  import ;  for, 
if  the  diffusion  ©f  knowledge  is  unfriendly  to  goodness, 
shall  we  take  refuge  in  the  reign  of  ignorance  ?  What 
is  the  precise  question,  on  which,  in  this  connexion, 
rational  scruples  may  be  started,  deserving  a  serious 
answer  ? 

The  merits  of  the  case  may,  I  believe,  be  stated  some- 
what as  follows : — that  there  seems,  in  individuals,  no 
fixed  proportion  between  intellectual  and  moral  growth 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  243 

Eminent  talent  and  distinguished  attainment  are  some- 
times connected  with  obliquity  of  character.  Of  those 
who  have  reached  the  heights  of  speculative  science, 
not  all  are  entitled  to  the  commendation  bestowed  on 
Sir  William  Jones, — that  he  was  "  learned,  without 
pride,  and  not  too  wise  to  pray ;"  and  one  entire  class 
of  men  of  letters  and  science,  the  French  philosophers 
of  the  last  century,  were,  as  a  body,  though  by  no  means 
without  honorable  exceptions,  notorious  for  a  disbelief 
of  revealed  religion ;  an  insensibility  to  the  delicacies 
of  moral  restraint ;  a  want  of  that  purity  of  feeling  and 
character,  which  we  would  gladly  consider  the  insepa- 
rable attendant  of  intellectual  cultivation.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion of  deep  interest,  whether,  from  these  facts,  and 
others  like  'them,  any  thing  can  be  fairly  deduced,  un- 
favorable to  the  moral  influence  of  a  diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge. 

No  country  in  Europe  had  retained  more  of  the  feu- 
dal divisions,  than  France,  before  the  Revolution.  A 
partition  of  the  orders  of  society,  but  little  less  rigid  than 
the  Oriental  economy  of  castes,  was  kept  up.  Causes, 
which  time  would  fail  us  to  develope,  had  rendered  the 
court  and  capital  of  France  signally  corrupt,  during  the 
last  century.  It  is  doubtful,  whether,  in  a  civilized  state, 
the  foundations  of  social  morality  were  ever  so  totally 
subverted.  It  was  by  no  means  one  of  the  least  active 
causes  of  this  corruption,  that  all  connexion  between 
the  court  and  capital,  and  the  higher  ranks  in  general, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  people  on  the  other,  was  cut 
off  by  the  constitution  of  society,  and  the  hopeless  de- 
pression, degradation,  and  ignorance,  of  the  mass  of  the 
people.  Under  these  influences,  the  school  of  the  en- 
cyclopedists was  trained.  They  did  not  make,  they 
found  the  corruption.  They  were  reared  in  it.  They 
grew  up  in  the  presence  and  under  the  patronage  of  a 
most  dissolute  court,  surrounded  by  the  atmosphere  of 
an  abandoned  metropolis,  without  the  constraint  or  the 
corrective  of  a  wholesome  public  sentiment,  emanating 
from  an  intelligent  and  virtuous  population.  The  great 


244  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

monitors  of  society  were  hushed.  The  pulpit,  not  over 
active,  at  that  time,  as  a  moral  teacher  in  the  Catholic 
Church  in  Europe,  was  struck  dumb,  for  some  of  the 
highest  dignitaries  were  stained  with  all  the  vices  of  the 
rest  of  their  order,  that  of  the  nobility  ;  and  some  of  the 
most  virtuous  and  eloquent  of  the  prelates  had  been 
obliged  to  exhaust  their  talents,  in  panegyrics  of  the 
frail  but  royal  dead.  The  press  was  mute,  on  every 
thing  which  touched  the  vices  of  the  time.  It  was  not 
then  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  from  the  philosophical 
circles  of  Paris,  that  corrupted  France  ;  it'was  the  gross 
darkness  of  the  provinces,  and  the  deep  degradation, 
every  where,  of  the  majority  of  the  people,  which  left 
unrebuked  the  depravity  of  the  capital.  It  was  precise- 
ly a  diffusion  of  knowledge  that  was  wanted.  And  if, 
as  I  doubt  not,  France,  at  this .  time,  is  more  virtuous 
(notwithstanding  the  demoralizing  effects  of  the  Revo- 
lution and  its  wars)  than  at  any  former  period,  it  is 
owing  to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  which  has  followed 
the  subversion  of  feudalism,  and  the  regeneration  of  the 
provinces.  Paris  has  ceased  to  be  France.  It  has  ceased 
to  be  possible  that  a  dissolute  court  should  give  the  tone 
of  feeling  to  the  entire  kingdom  ;  for  an  intelligent  class 
of  independent  citizens  and  husbandmen  has  sprung  up 
on  the  ruins  of  a  decayed  landed  aristocracy,  and  the 
reformation  of  France  is  rapidly  going  on,  in  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  intellectual,  and  with  it  the  political,  social, 
and  moral  character  of  the  people. 

I  do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  argue,  at  length,  against 
any  general  inference  from  individual  cases,  in  which 
intellectual  eminence  has  been  associated  with  moral 
depravity.  The  question  concerns  general  influences 
and  natural  tendencies,  and  must  be  considered  mainly 
in  reference  to  the  comparative  effects  of  ignorance  and 
knowledge  on  communities,  nations,  and  ages.  In  this 
reference,  nothing  is  more  certain,  than  that  the  diffu-. 
sion  of  knowledge  is  friendly  to  the  benign  influence 
of  religion  and  morals.  The  illustrations  of  this  great 
truth  are  so  abundant,  that  I  know  not  where  to  begin 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  245 

nor  where  to  end  with  them.  Knowledge  is  the  faith- 
ful ally  both  of  natural  and  revealed  religion.  Natural 
religion  is  one  grand  deduction  made  by  the  enlightened 
understanding,  from  a  faithful  study  of  the  great  book 
of  Nature ;  and  the  record  of  revealed  religion,  con- 
tained in  the  Bible,  is  not  merely  confirmed  by  the  har- 
mony, which  the  mind  delights  to  trace  between  it  and 
the  "  elder  Scripture  writ  by  God's  own  hand ;"  but 
Revelation,  in  all  ages,  has  called  to  its  aid  the  medita- 
tions and  researches  of  pious  and  learned  men ;  and, 
most  assuredly,  at  every  period,  for  one  man  of  learn- 
ing, superficial  or  profound,  who  has  turned  the  weap- 
ons of  science  against  religion  or  morals,  hundreds  have 
consecrated  their  labors  to  their  defence.  Christianity 
is  revealed  to  the  mind  of  man,  in  a  peculiar  sense. 
To  what  are  its  hopes,  its  sanctions,  its  precepts,  ad- 
dressed? to  the  physical  or  the  intellectual  portion  of 
his  nature  ;  to  the  perishing  or  the  immortal  element  ? 
Is  it  on  ignorance  or  pn  knowledge,  that  its  evidences 
repose  ?  Is  it  by  ignorance  or  knowledge,  that  its  sa- 
cred records  are  translated  from  the  original  tongues, 
into  the  thousands  of  languages,  spoken  in  the  world  ? 
and  if,  by  perverted  knowledge,  it  has  sometimes  been 
attacked,  is  it  by  ignorance  or  knowledge,  that  it  has 
been  and  must  be  defended  ?  What,  but  knowledge, 
is  to  prevent  us,  in  short,  from  being  borne  down  and 
carried  away,  by  the  overwhelming  tide  of  fanaticism 
and  delusion,  put  in  motion  by  the  moon-struck  impos- 
tors of  the  day  ?  Before  we  permit  ourselves  to  be  ag- 
itated with  painful  doubts,  as  to  the  connexion  of  a  dif- 
fusion of  knowledge  with  religion  and  morals,  let  us 
remember,  that,  in  proportion  to  the  ignorance  of  a 
community,  is  the  ease  with  which  their  belief  can  be 
shaken,  and  their  assent  attained  to  the  last  specious 
delusion  of  the  day,  till  you  may  finally  get  down  to  a 
degree  of  ignorance,  on  which  reason  and  Scripture  are 
alike  lost ;  which  is  ready  to  receive  Joe  Smith  as  an 

inspired  prophet,  and  Matthias  as but  shame  and 

horror  forbid  me  to  complete  the  sentence. 


246  GENERAL,  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

But  this  topic  must  be  treated  in  a  higher  strain.  The 
diffusion  of  knowledge  is  not  merely  favorable  to  relig- 
ion and  morals,  but,  in  the  last  and  highest  analysis, 
they  cannot  be  separated  from  each  other.  In  the  great 
prototype  of  our  feeble  ideas  of  perfection,  the  wise  and 
the  good  are  so  blended  together,  that  the  absence  of 
one  would  enfeeble  and  impair  the  other.  There  can 
be  no  real  knowledge  of  truth,  which  does  not  tend  to 
purify  and  elevate  the  affections.  A  little  knowledge, — 
much  knowledge, — may  not,  in  individual  cases,  sub- 
due the  passions  of  a  cold,  corrupt,  and  selfish  heart. 
But  if  knowledge  will  not  do  it,  can  it  be  done  by  the 
want  of  knowledge  ? 

What  is  human  knowledge?  It  is  the  cultivation 
and  improvement  of  the  spiritual  principle  in  man.  We 
are  composed  of  two  elements ;  the  one,  a  little  dust, 
caught  up  from  the  earth,  to  which  we  shall  soon  re- 
turn ;  the  other,  a  spark  of  that  Divine  Intelligence,  in 
which  and  through  which  we  bear  the  image  of  the 
great  Creator.  By  knowledge,  the  wings  of  the  intel- 
lect are  spread :  by  ignorance,  they  are  closed  and  pal- 
sied, and  the  physical  passions  are  left  to  gain  the  as- 
cendancy. Knowledge  opens  all  the  senses  to  the  won- 
ders of  creation :  ignorance  seals  them  up,  and  leaves 
the  animal  propensities  unbalanced  by  reflection,  enthu- 
siasm, and  taste.  To  the  ignorant  man,  the  glorious 
pomp  of  day,  the  shining  mysteries  of  night,  the  ma- 
jestic ocean,  the  rushing  storm,  the  plenty-bearing  river, 
the  salubrious  breeze,  the  fertile  field,  the  docile  animal 
tribes,  the  broad,  the  various,  the  unexhausted,  domain 
of  Nature,  are  a  mere  outward  pageant,  poorly  under- 
stood in  their  character  and  harmony,  and  prized  only 
so  far  as  they  minister  to  the  supply  of  sensual  wants. 
How  different  the  scene,  to  the  man  whose  mind  is 
stored  with  knowledge !  For  him,  the  mystery  is  un- 
folded, the  veils  lifted  up,  as  one  after  another  lie  turns 
the  leaves  of  that  great  volume  of  creation,  which  is 
filled  in  every  page  with  the  characters  of  wisdom,  pow- 
er, and  love ;  with  lessons  of  truth  the  most  exalted  j 


GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF   KNOWLEDGE.  247 

with  images  of  unspeakable  loveliness  and  wonder  ;  ar- 
guments of  Providence  ;  food  for  meditation  ;  themes 
of  praise.  One  noble  science  sends  him  to  the  barren 
hills,  and  teaches  him  to  survey  their  broken  precipices. 
Where  ignorance  beheld  nothing  but  a  rough  inorganic 
mass,  instruction  discerns  the  intelligible  record  of  the 
primal  convulsions  of  the  world ;  the  secrets  of  ages 
before  man  was  ;  the  landmarks  of  the  elemental  strug- 
gles and  throes  of  what  is  now  the  terraqueous  globe. 
Buried  monsters,  of  which  the  races  are  now  extinct, 
are  dragged  out  of  deep  strata,  dug  out  of  eternal  rocks, 
and  brought  almost  to  life,  to  bear  witness  to  the  power 
^that  created  them.  Before  the  admiring  student  of  Na- 
ture has  realized  all  the  wonders  of  the  elder  world,  thus, 
as  it  were,  created  again  by  science,  another  delightful 
instructress,  with  her  microscope  in  her  hand,  bids  him 
sit  down,  and  learn  at  last  to  know  the  universe  in  which 
he  lives ;  and  contemplate  the  limbs,  the  motions,  the 
circulations,  of  races  of  animals,  disporting  in  their  tem- 
pestuous ocean, — a  drop  of  water.  Then,  while  his 
whole  soul  is  penetrated  with  admiration  of  the  power 
which  has  filled  with  life,  and  motion,  and  sense,  these 
all  but  non-existent  atoms, — O,  then,  let  the  divinest 
of  the  Muses,  let  Astronomy  approach,  and  take  him 
by  the  hand  ;  let  her 

"  Come,  but  keep  her  wonted  state, 
With  even  step  and  musing  g.iit, 
And  looks  commercing  with  the  skies, 
Her  rapt  soul  sitting  in  her  eyes  ;" 

let  her  lead  him  to  the  mount  of  observation ;  let  her 
turn  her  heaven-piercing  tube  to  the  sparkling  vault : 
through  that,  let  him  observe  the  serene  star  of  even- 
ing, and  see  it  transformed  into  a  cloud-encompassed 
orb,  a  world  of  rugged  mountains  and  stormy  deeps ; 
or  behold  the  pale  beams  of  Saturn,  lost  to  the  un- 
taught observer  amidst  myriads  of  brighter  stars,  and 
see  them  expand  into  the  broad  disk  of  a  noble  plan- 
et, the  seven  attendant  worlds,  the  wondrous  rings,  a 
mighty  system  in  itself,  borne  at  the  rate  of  twenty-two 


248  GENERAL  DIFFUSION  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

thousand  miles  an  hour,  on  its  broad  pathway  through 
the  heavens ;  and  then  let  him  reflect,  that  our  great 
solar  system,  of  which  Saturn  and  his  stupendous  reti- 
nue is  but  a  small  part,  fills,  itself,  in  the  general  struc- 
ture of  the  universe,  but  the  space  of  one  fixed  star ; 
and  that  the  Power,  which  filled  the  drop  of  water  with 
millions  of  living  beings,  is  present  and  active,  through- 
out this  illimitable  creation  !  Yes,  yes, 

"  The  undevout  astronomer  is  mad  !" 

But  it  is  time  to  quit  these  sublime  contemplations, 
and  bring  this  address  to  a  close.  I  may  seem  to  have 
undertaken  a  superfluous  labor,  in  sustaining  the  argu- 
ment of  this  address.  This  Institution,  consecrated  to" 
learning  and  piety  ;  these  academic  festivities  ;  this  fa- 
voring audience,  which  bestows  its  countenance  on  our 
literary  exercises;  the  presence  of  so  many  young 
men,  embarking  on  the  ocean  of  life,  devoted  to  the 
great  interests  of  the  rational  mind  and  immortal  soul, 
bear  witness  for  me,,  that  the  cause  of  education  stands 
not  here  in  need  of  champions.  Let  it  be  our  pride, 
that  it  has  never  needed  them,  among  the  descendants 
of  the  Pilgrims  ;  let  it  be  our  vow,  that,  by  the  blessing 
of  Providence,  it  never  shall  need  them,  so  long  as 
there  is  a  descendant  of  the  Pilgrims  to  plead  its  worth. 
Yes,  let  the  pride  of  military  glory  belong  to  foreign  re- 
gions ;  let  the  refined  corruptions  of  the  older  world 
attract  the  traveller  to  its  splendid  capitals ;  let  a  fervid 
sun  ripen,  for  other  states,  the  luxuries  of  a  tropical 
clime.  Let  the  schoolhouse  and  the  church  continue 
to  be  the  boast  of  the  New-England  village ;  let  the  son 
of  New  England,  whithersoever  he  may  wander,  leave 
that  behind  him,  which  shall  make  him  homesick  for 
his  native  land  ;  let  freedom,  and  knowledge,  and  mor- 
als, and  religion,  as  they  are  our  birthright,  be  the  birth- 
right of  our  children,  to  the  end  of  time  1 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  249 


ON  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.* 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  ADELPHIC  UNION, — I  feel  scarce- 
ly warranted,  at  this  late  hour,  in  taking  up  much  of 
your  time.  The  day  belongs  properly  to  those,  who, 
having  completed  their  academic  course,  have  present- 
ed themselves  upon  the  public  stage,  in  the  presence 
of  kindred,  friends,  and  a  gratified  audience,  to  be  dis- 
missed with  collegiate  honors,  to  the  active  duties  of 
life,  or  to  the  more  immediate  preparation  for  its  pro- 
fessional pursuits.  I  have  scarce  a  right  to  take  to  my- 
self any  portion  of  the  precious  time,  to  which  they 
have  the  first  claim.  Besides,  I  feel  too  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  scene,  as  a  spectator,  to  desire  a  more  ac- 
tive part  in  the  duties  of  the  day.  It  recalls  to  me, 
fresh  as  yesterday,  the  time,  now  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century  past,  when,  like  you,  young  gentlemen,  who 
are  about  to  take  your  degrees,  I  also  stood  upon  the 
threshold  of  life,  full  of  the  hopes,  the  visions,  the  en- 
thusiasm, of  youth.  These  scholastic  exercises,  these 
learned  tongues,  these  academic  forms,  touch  a  chord  of 
sympathy  in  my  bosom.  Personally  a  stranger  to  most 
of  those  whom  I  have  the  honor  to  address,  I  feel  as 
if,  on  literary  ground,  (and  I  am  sure  that  no  one,  on 
this  occasion,  can  expect  me  to  occupy  any  other,)  I 
may  come  as  an  acquaintance,  as  a  friend ;  that  I  may 
even 

'«  Claim  kindred  there,  and  have  the  claim  allowed." 

Nature  seems  to  breathe  peace,  in  concert  with  the 
character  of  the  day ;  and,  within  these  quiet  valleys, 
shut  out,  by  the  perpetual  hills,  from  the  struggling 
world,  she  invites  us,  with  her  most  soothing  voice,  to 
kind  feeling,  to  cheerful  discourse,  and  to  calm  thought. 

*  An  Address  delivered  before  the  Adelphic  Union  Society  of  Wil 
liams  College,  on  Commencement  Day,  August  16,  1837. 


250  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Nor  are  the  historical  recollections  around  us  less 
animating  and  joyous.  The  pleasant  village,  where  we 
are  assembled,  contains,  within  view  of  the  spot  where 
we  stand,  the  site  of  Fort  Hoosac,  and,  a  mile  or  two 
east  of  us,  stood  Fort  Massachusetts.  The  plough  has 
passed  over  its  rude  lines ;  but  what  scenes  of  humble 
heroism  and  almost  forgotten  valor  are  associated  with 
its  name !  It  was  the  bulwark  of  the  frontier,  in  the 
days  of  its  infancy.  The  trembling  mother,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Connecticut,  and  in  the  heart  of  Worcester, 
clasped  her  babes  closer,  at  an  idle  rumor,  that  Fort 
Massachusetts  had  given  way.  A  hundred  villages  re- 
posed in  the  strength  of  this  stout  guardian  of  New 
England's  Thermopylae,  through  which,  for  two  gener- 
ations, the  French  and  Canadian  foe  strove  to  burst 
into  the  colonies.  These  are  recollections  of  an  early 
day.  A  few  miles  to  the  north  of  us  lies  that  famous 
field  of  Bennington,  to  which,  sixty  years  ago,  this  day 
and  this  hour,  your  fathers  poured,  from  every  village 
in  the  neighborhood,  at  the  summons  of  Stark.  While 
we  meet  together,  to  enjoy,  in  peace,  the  blessings  for 
which  they  shed  their  blood,  let  us  pour  out  upon  the 
academic  altar,  one  libation  of  grateful  feeling  to  their 
memory. 

But,  though  I  would  most  willingly  have  continued  a 
gratified  listener,  my  engagements  to  you,  gentlemen  of 
the  Adelphic  Union,  require,  that  I  should  trespass,  for 
a  short  time,  upon  the  patience  of  the  audience,  even 
at  this  late  hour,  with  the  utterance  of  some  thoughts 
on  that  subject,  which,  upon  an  anniversary  like  this, 
may  be  regarded  as  the  only  peculiarly  appropriate  topic 
of  discourse.  I  mean  the  subject  of  education.  I 
know,  it  is  a  worn  theme ;  as  old  as  the  first  dawnings 
of  imparted  knowledge  in  the  infancy  of  the  world,  and 
familiar  to  the  contemplation  of  every  succeeding  age, 
even  to  the  present  time.  But  it  still  remains,  for  us, 
a  topic  of  unabated  and  ever  urgent  interest.  Although 
it*  is  a  subject  on  which  philosophers,  of  every  age,  have 
largely  discoursed,  so  far  from  being  exhausted,  it  prob- 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  251 

ably  never  presented  itself  to  the  human  mind  under 
so  many  new  and  important  aspects,  as  at  the  present 
day,  and,  I  may  add,  in  these  United  States.  I  may 
safely  appeal  to  every  person  who  hears  me,  and  who 
is  in  the  habit  of  reflecting  at  all  on  the  character  of 
the  age  in  which  we  live,  whether,  next  to  what  direct- 
ly concerns  the  eternal  welfare  of  man,  there  is  any 
subject,  which  he  deems  of  more  vital  importance,  than 
the  great  problem,  how  the  whole  people  can  be  best 
educated.  If  the  answer  of  the  patriot  and  statesman, 
to  this  appeal,  were  doubtful,  I  might  still  more  safely 
inquire  of  every  considerate  parent  who  hears  me, 
whether  the  education  of  his  children,  their  education 
for  time  and  eternity,  (for,  as  far  as  human  means  are 
concerned,  these  objects  are  intimately  connected,)  is 
not  among  the  things  which  are  first,  last,  and  most 
anxiously,  upon  his  mind. 

It  is  not,  however,  my  purpose,  to  engage  in  a  gen- 
eral discussion  of  the  subject.  I  could  not  do  so,  with- 
out repeating  what  I  have  advanced,  on  former  similar 
occasions,  and  what  I  cannot  deem  of  sufficient  impor- 
tance, to  be  said  over  again.  Indeed,  if  I  wished  to 
express,  most  forcibly,  the  importance,  the  dignity,  and 
the  obligation  of  the  great  work  of  education,  I  believe 
it  might  best  be  done,  by  taking  our  stand,  at  once,  on 
the  simple  enunciation  of  the  spiritual  and  immortal 
nature  of  the  thing  to  be  educated, — the  mind  of  man. 
Then,  if  we  wished  to  give  life  and  distinctness  to  the 
ideas  of  the  importance  of  education,  which  result  from 
this  contemplation,  we  might  do  so  by  a  single  glance 
at  the  number  and  importance  of  the  branches  of  know- 
ledge, to  which  education  furnishes  the  key.  I  might 
allude  to  the  admirable  properties  of  language,  which  it 
is  the  first  business  of  education  to  impart ;  the  wonders 
of  the  written  and  spoken  tongue,  as  the  instrument  of 
thought, — wonders,  which  daily  use  scarcely  divests  of 
their  alrflost  miraculous  character.  I  might  glance  at 
that  which  is  usually  next  taught  to  the  unfolding  mind, 
the  astonishing  power  of  the  science  of  numbers,  with 


252  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

which,  on  the  one  hand,  we  regulate  the  humblest  de- 
tails of  domestic  economy,  and,  on  the  other,  compute 
the  swiftness  of  the  solar  beam,  and  survey  and  as  it 
were  stake  out,  from  constellation  to  constellation,  the 
great  rail-road  of  the  heavens,  on  which  the  comet 
comes  blazing  upward  from  the  depths  of  the  universe.' 
I  might  proceed  with  the  branches  of  knowledge  to 
which  education  introduces  us,  and  ask  of  geography, 
to  marshal  before  us  the  living  nations ;  and  of  history, 
to  rouse  the  generations  of  the  elder  world,  from  their 
pompous  mausoleums  or  humble  graves,  to  rehearse 
their  fortunes.  I  might  call  on  natural  science,  to  open 
the  volumes  in  which  she  has  not  merely  written  down 
the  names,  the  forms,  and  the  qualities,  of  the  various 
subjects  of  the  animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral,  world, 
now  in  existence, — the  vast  census,  if  I  may  so  ex- 
press it,  of  the  three  kingdoms  of  Nature ;  but  where 
she  has  also  recorded  the  catalogues  of  her  perished 
children,  races  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  world,  buri- 
ed beneath  the  everlasting  rocks.  The  discoveries 
recently  made  in  the  science  of  geology  are  of  a  truly 
wonderful  character.  Winged  creatures,  twenty  feet 
in  height,  whose  footsteps  have  lately  been  discovered, 
imprinted  in  sandstone,  on  the  banks  of  Connecticut 
River ;  enormous  mammoths  and  mastodons,  of  which 
no  living  type  has  existed  since  the  flood,  brought  to 
light  from  blocks  of  Siberian  ice,  or  dug  up  in  the  mo- 
rasses of  our  own  continent ;  petrified  skeletons  of  croc- 
odiles and  megatheria,  seventy  feet  in  length,  covered 
with  scales  like  the  armadillo,  and  which  for  ages  on 
ages  have  been  extinct ;  have,  by  the  creative  power  of 
educated  rnind,  been  made  to  start,  as  it  were,  out  of 
the  solid  rock.  Sandstone  and  gypsum  have  oped  their 
ponderous  and  marble  jaws,  and  a  host  of  monstrous 
forms  have  risen  into  day,  the  recovered  monuments  of 
a  world  of  lost  giants. 

The  description  which  Professor  Buckland  has  given 
us  of  the  fossil  plants,  found  in  the  coal  strata  at  Swina, 
near  Prague,  in  Bohemia,  is  one  of  the  most  instruc- 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  253 

tive  and  beautiful,  to  be  found  in  the  whole  range  of 
science.  He  speaks  as  an  eyewitness.  "  The  most 
elaborate  imitations  of  living  foliage,  upon  the  painted 
ceilings  of  Italian  palaces,  bear  no  comparison  with  the 
beauteous  profusion  of  extinct  vegetable  forms,  with 
which  the  galleries  of  these  instructive  coal-mines  are 
overhung.  The  roof  is  covered,  as  with  a  canopy  of 
gorgeous  tapestry,  enriched  with  festoons  of  most 
graceful  foliage,  flung,  in  wild,  irregular  profusion,  over 
every  portion  of  its  surface.  The  effect  is  heightened 
by  the  contrast  of  the  coal-black  color  of  these  vegeta- 
bles with  the  light  groundwork  of  the  rock  to  which 
they  are  attached.  The  spectator  feels  himself  trans- 
ported, as  if  by  enchantment,  into  the  forests  of  anoth- 
er world  ;  he  beholds  trees,  of  forms  and  characters  now 
unknown  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth,  presented  to 
his  senses,  almost  in  the  beauty  and  vigor  of  their  pri- 
meval life  ;  their  scaly  stems  and  bending  branches, 
with  their  delicate  apparatus  of  foliage,  are  all  spread 
forth  before  him  ;  little  impaired  by  the  lapse  of  count- 
less ages,  and  bearing  faithful  records  of  extinct  systems 
of  vegetation,  which  began  and  terminated  in  times,  of 
which  these  relics  are  the  infallible  historians."* 

Nor  is  the  account  given  by  Cuvier,  of  his  discover- 
ies of  fossil  remains  of  animals,  less  striking.  It  is  ow- 
ing more,  perhaps,  to  the  sagacity  of  this  philosopher, 
than  to  that  of  any  other  individual,  that  our  views  of 
a  primitive  world  have  assumed  the  form  of  a  science. 
The  gypsum  quarries,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Paris, 
abound  with  fossil  bones.  The  museums  and  cabinets 
in  that  city  were  filled  with  them ;  but  no  attempt  had 
been  made  to  arrange  them  into  forms,  or  give  them 
the  names  of  the  particular  animals  to  which  they  be- 
longed. A  cursory  survey  satisfied  Cuvier,  that  many 
of  them  belonged  to  races  no  longer  in  existence.  "  I 
at  length  found  myself,"  says  he,  "as  if  placed  in  a 
charnel-house,  surrounded  by  mutilated  fragments  of 

*  Buckland's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  Vol.  I.  pp.  344,  345. 
OO  pi    x. 


254  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

many  hundred  skeletons,  of  more  than  twenty  kinds 
of  animals,  piled  confusedly  around  me  ;  the  task  as- 
signed me  was,  to  restore  them  all  to  their  original  po- 
sition. At  the  voice  of  comparative  anatomy,  every 
bone  and  fragment  of  a  bone  resumed  its  place."* 

But  leaving,  with  these  transient  glances,  all  attempt 
to  magnify  the  work  of  education,  by  pointing  out  the 
astonishing  results  to  which  it  guides  the  well-trained 
mind,  a  much  shorter  method  might  be  pursued,  with 
one  who  needed  to  be  impressed  with  its  importance. 
I  would  take  such  a  one  to  a  place  of  instruction,  to 
a  school,  yes,  to  a  child's  school,  (for  there  is  no  step 
in  the  process  more  important  than  the  first,)  and  I 
would  say,  in  those  faint  sparks  of  intelligence,  just 
brightening  over  the  rudiments  of  learning,  you  behold 
the  germ  of  so  many  rational  and  immortal  spirits.  In 
a  few  years,  you  and  I,  and  all  now  on  the  stage,  shall 
have  passed  away,  and  there,  on  those  little  seats,  prim- 
er in  hand,  are  arranged  our  successors.  Yes ;  when 
the  volume  of  natural  science,  and  Nature  with  it,  shall 
have  vanished  ;  when  the  longest  periods  of  human  his- 
tory shall  have  run  together,  to  a  point ;  when  the  loud, 
clear  voices  of  genius,  and  the  multitudinous  tongues 
of  nations,  shall  alike  be  hushed,  forever,  those  infant 
children  will  have  ripened  into  immortal  beings,  look- 
ing back,  from  the  mansions  of  eternity,  with  joy  or 
sorrow,  on  the  direction  given  to  their  intellectual  and 
moral  natures,  in  the  dawn  of  their  existence  !  If  there 
is  any  one  not  deeply  impressed,  by  this  single  reflec- 
tion, with  the  importance  of  education,  he  is  beyond 
the  reach  of  any  thing  that  can  be  urged,  by  way  eith* 
er  of  illustration  or  argument. 

What,  then,  is  the  business  of  education  ? 

It  is  to  assist  the  growth  of  our  spiritual  nature ;  to 

*  This  sentence  is  given,  as  it  appears  in  Dr.  Buckland's  Bridge- 
water  Treatise,  Vol.  I.  p.  72,  where  Cuvier,  Ossemensfossiles,  Tom. 
III.  p.  34,  edition  1812,  is  cited.  It  reads  somewhat  differently  in 
the  original,  in  the  edition  of  1825,  Tom.  II.  part  2,  p.  284.  See 
also  Griffith's  Abridgement  of  Cuvier,  Vol.  I.  p.  110. 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  255 

dispose  of  the  circumstances  that  affect  it,  in  such  a 
way,  as  best  to  promote  the  harmonious  developement 
of  all  the  faculties.  The  mind  of  man,  like  his  body, 
has  its  laws  of  growth,  belonging  to  the  constitution 
which  the  Creator  has  given  it ;  mysterious  and  faintly 
apprehended,  in  their  inner  nature,  but  not  imperfectly 
visible,  in  their  outward  working.  In  the  operation  of 
these  laws,  as  a  certain  kind  of  aliment,  clothing,  and 
exercise,  are  most  favorable  to  the  developement  of  the 
natural  organs  and  the  health  of  the  physical  man,  so 
a  certain  course  of  discipline  and  instruction  is  most 
favorable  to  the  well-proportioned  formation  and  healthy 
action  of  the  various  mental  powers,  and  of  the  whole 
intellectual  nature. 

How  much,  in  the  aggregate,  has  been  and  daily  is 
effected,  by  education,  in  the  most  comprehensive  sense 
of  the  word,  may  be  satisfactorily  estimated,  by  any 
one  who  will  compare  together  the  attainments  of  men, 
in  a  barbarous  and  highly  civilized  state.  I  could  not 
enter  into  this  comparison,  without  passing  the  limits 
of  this  occasion  ;  but,  without  an  enumeration  of  par- 
ticulars, it  will  occur  to  every  one  who  hears  me.  that 
the  difference,  between  the  best  specimens  of  educat- 
ed, and  the  worst  of  uneducated,  man,  is  almost  as 
great,  as  that  between  different  orders  of  being. 

Assembled,  as  we  are,  under  the  auspices  of  a  highly- 
respected  collegiate  institution,  it  is  obvious  to  remark, 
that  there  are  two  offices  to  be  performed  by  education, 
of  harmonious  character  and  tendency,  but  of  different 
sphere  and  mode  of  operation.  One  regards  the  disci- 
pline and  training  of  mind  to  the  highest  point  of  intel- 
lectual excellence,  and  the  other  regards  the  diffusion 
of  useful  knowledge  among  the  community  at  large, 
and  the  consequent  elevation  of  the  general  character. 

I.  With  respect  to  the  first-named  view  of  education, 
it  is  an  inquiry  well  calculated  to  stir  the  curiosity  of  the 
thoughtful  student  of  the  nature  of  the  human  mind, 
whether  it  be  possible,  by  the  wisest  system  of  educa- 
tion, most  faithfully  applied,  to  produce  higher  degrees 


256  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

of  intellectual  power  and  excellence,  than  have  ever 
been  witnessed  among  men.  We  are  accustomed  to 
think  that  there  have  appeared  individuals,  who  have 
carried  our  common  nature  to  the  highest  point  of  hu- 
man perfection ;  and  it  may  seem  presumptuous,  to 
express  the  opinion  that  it  can  be  possible,  by  any 
agency  of  means  which  can  be  planned  out  and  put 
in  operation,  to  form  minds  superior  to  some  of  those, 
which,  from  time  to  time,  have  commanded  the  admi- 
ration of  the  world.  It  may  even  seem  idle,  in  connex- 
ion with  education,  to  speak  at  all  of  such  minds ; 
since,  in  tracing  their  personal  history,  it  is  often  found, 
that,  so  far  from  owing  their  eminence  over  the  rest 
of  mankind  to  superior  advantages  of  instruction,  they 
were  born  and  reared  in  want,  and  became  great  by  the 
power  of  genius,  unaided  by  favorable  circumstances. 
I  do  not  now  recollect  one,  among  the  master  minds 
of  our  race,  for  whom  a  kind  and  judicious  father  would 
have  prescribed,  from  first  to  last,  that  course  of  edu- 
cation and  life,  which,  as  the  event  proved,  was  pre- 
scribed by  Providence. 

Homer,  the  father  of  poetry,  the  one  bard,  to  whom 
all  aftertimes  have  accorded  the  first  place,  was  a  wan- 
dering minstrel,  in  a  semi-barbarous  age,  perhaps,  a 
blind  mendicant.  Who  would  have  thought,  that  the 
wisest  of  heathen*  should  have  been  a  poor,  barefooted 
soldier ;  the  standing  butt,  on  the  Athenian  stage,  of. 
the  most  tremendous  of  satirists  ;f  the  victim  of  an  un- 
tameable  shrew  ;  sacrificed,  at  last,  to  a  tyranny,  as 
base  as  it  was  cruel  ?  Or,  who  would  have  predicted, 
that  the  prince  of  Grecian  eloquence;];  should  have  been 
found  in  a  stammering  orphan,  of  feeble  lungs  and  un- 
gainly carriage,  deprived  of  education  by  avaricious 
guardians,  and  condemned  to  struggle,  for  his  life, 
amidst  the  infuriated  contests  of  rival  political  factions  ? 
The  greatest  minds  of  Rome,  so  far  from  being  placed 
in  circumstances,  seemingly  favorable  to  their  forma- 

*  Socrates.         t  Aristophanes.         J  Demosthenes. 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  257 

tion,  lived,  almost  all  of  them,  in  exceedingly  critical, 
perilous,  and  degenerate,  days ;  many  of  them  under 
a  despotism  so  frightful,  that  one  would  think  it  must 
have  produced  a  general  intellectual  catalepsy. 

If  we  look  to  the  modern  world,  how  few  of  the  great- 
est minds  seem  to  have  been  trained  under  circumstan- 
ces, which  would  have  been  deemed,  beforehand,  friend- 
ly to  the  improvement  of  genius !  Dante  was  tossed, 
by  the  stormy  feuds  of  the  Italian  republics,  from  city 
to  city,  banished,  and  sentenced  to  be  burned  alive,  if 
found  in  the  land  which  he  has  immortalized  by  his 
fame.  The  madhouse  of  St.  Anne  was  the  conserva- 
tory in  which  Tasso's  genius  ripened.  Columbus  was, 
for  years,  an  all  but  heart-broken  suitor  to  royal  stocks 
and  stones.  Luther,  at  the  age  when  the  permanent 
bias  is  usually  given  to  the  mind,  was  the  shorn  and 
sleek  inmate  of  a  monk's  cell.  Of  the  great  men 
which  form  the  glory  of  English  literature,  not  one,  I 
think,  was  so  situated,  as  to  enjoy  the  best  advantages 
for  education,  which  his  country,  at  the  time,  afforded ; 
least  of  all  was  this  the  case  with  the  greatest  of  them, 
— Shakspeare.  Not  one  of  the  most  illustrious  intel- 
lects, from  Homer  down, — the  giant  minds,  who,  in  the 
language  of  Machiavelli,  rise  above  the  level  of  their 
fellow-men,  and  stretch  out  their  hands  to  each  other, 
across  the  interval  of  ages,  transmitting  to  each  suc- 
ceeding generation,  the  torch  of  science,  poetry,  and 
art, — not  one  of  them,  taking  all  things  together,  was 
placed  even  in  as  favorable  circumstances  as  the  times 
admitted,  for  the  training  of  his  faculties. 

I  readily  admit,  that  minds  of  the  first  order  furnish 
no  rule  for  the  average  of  intellect ;  and  I  can  well  con- 
ceive, that  they  may,  in  the  inscrutable  connexion  of 
cause  and  effect,  in  some  cases,  have  owed  a  part  of 
their  power  and  eminence  to  the  operation  of  those 
seemingly  untoward  circumstances,  against  which  hu- 
man prudence  would,  if  possible,  have  guarded  them. 
But  I  hope  it  will  not  be  deemed  rash,  to  say,  that  I 
can  imagine  that  each  and  all  of  these  great  men,  to 
22* 


258  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

whom  I  have  alluded,  might,  under  more  favorable  in- 
fluences, have  been  greater,  wiser,  and  better.  With 
a  reverence,  as  deep  as  honesty  or  manliness  permits, 
for  the  master  geniuses  of  our  race, — a  reverence  nour- 
ished by  the  fond  and  never  intermitted  study  of  their 
works, — I  may  say  that  I  catch,  from  this  very  study 
of  their  writings  and  characters,  a  conception,  that, 
high  as  they  rose,  they  might  have  risen  higher.  I 
can  sometimes  behold  the  soil  of  the  world  upon  their 
snow-white  robes,  and  the  rust  of  human  passion  up- 
on the  glittering  edge  of  their  wit.  It  was  long  ago 
said  by  Horace  that  the  good  Homer  sometimes  nods ; 
and  Shakspeare,  the  most  brilliant  example,  unquestion- 
ably, of  a  triumph  over  the  defects  of  education,  mental 
and  moral,  too  often  exhibits  traces  of  both.  As  he 
floats  on  eagle's  wings,  along  what  he  nobly  calls  "  the 
brightest  heaven  of  invention,"  he  is  sometimes  borne 
by  an  unchastened  taste  into  a  misty  region,  where  the 
understanding  endeavors  in  vain  to  follow  him ;  and 
sometimes,  as  he  skims  with  the  swallow's  ease  and 
swiftness  along  the  ground,  too  confident  of  his  power 
to  soar,  when  he  will,  up  to  the  rosy  gates  of  the  morn- 
ing, he  stoops,  and  stoops,  and  stoops,  till  the  tips  of 
his  graceful  pinions  are  sadly  daggled  in  the  mire. 

If  there  is  any  justice  in  these  reflections,  it  may  be 
admitted,  that  the  most  eminent  minds  might,  by  a  hap- 
pier course  of  life  and  education,  have  been  redeemed 
from  their  faults,  and  have  attained  a  higher  degree  of 
excellence.  If  this  be  granted,  what  may  not  reasona- 
bly be  expected,  from  a  great  increase  in  the  means,  and 
improvement  in  the  methods,  of  education  ;  from  the 
consequent  increase  in  the  number  of  minds  submitted 
to  its  action  ;  from  the  progress  of  general  intelligence  ; 
the  discovery  of  new  truths  and  facts,  and  the  splendid 
generalizations  built  upon  them  ;  from  the  purer  tone 
of  public  sentiment,  and  higher  standard  of  morals, 
which  cannot  fail  to  result  from  the  joint  operation  of 
the  social,  intellectual,  and  religious,  influences  now  at 
work  ?  Under  the  action  of  these  causes,  daily  grow- 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  259 

ing  more  intense,  it  seems  to  me  not  improbable,  that 
some  minds,  as  happily  endowed  by  Nature  as  any  that 
have  yet  appeared,  will  arise,  in  circumstances  more  fa- 
vorable to  the  fullest  developement  and  highest  cultiva- 
tion of  their  powers. 

I  am  aware  that  it  is  a  prevalent  notion,  that,  to  some 
efforts  of  genius,  an  advanced  state  of  cultivation  is 
unfriendly  ;  that  the  infancy  of  science  is  more  conge- 
nial with  poetry  ;  and  that,  in  general,  the  period  of 
critical  learning  is  unfavorable  to  the  developement  of 
strongly-marked  original  talent.  I  am  inclined,  howev- 
er, to  believe  this  a  mistaken  opinion  ;  an  erroneous 
inference  from  facts  that  may  otherwise  be  explained. 
If  all  that  is  meant  be,  that  the  character  of  poetical 
composition  will  vary  with  the  state  of  civilization  and 
the  general  intellectual  character  of  the  age,  it  is,  of 
course,  strictly  true.  In  conditions  of  the  wrorld  so  dif- 
ferent, as  that  of  Greece  in  the  heroic  period,  of  the 
Augustan  age  of  Rome,  that  of  Italy  in  the  middle 
ages,  and  of  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth,  in  Eng- 
land, it  must  be  expected  that  poetry  and  every  other 
manifestation  of  mind  will  exhibit  different  forms ;  as 
we  see  they  have  done  in  Homer,  Virgil,  Dante,  and 
Milton.  But  I  deem  the  notion,  that  the  first  age  was 
necessarily  the  best,  to  be  a  mere  prejudice ;  and  the 
idea  that  a  partially  improved  age  and  a  limited  degree 
of  knowledge  are,  in  themselves  and  essentially,  more 
favorable  to  the  exercise  of  original  genius,  in  any  form, 
appears  to  me  to  be  a  proposition  as  degrading  as  it  is 
unsound. 

On  the  contrary,  I  believe  that  truth  is  the  great  in- 
spirer  ;  the  knowledge  of  truth  the  aliment  and  the  instru- 
ment of  mind,  the  material  of  thought,  feeling,  and  fan- 
cy. I  do  not  mean  that  there  is  no  beauty,  in  poetical 
language  founded  on  scientific  error  ;  that  it  is  not,  for 
instance,  consistent  with  poetry,  to  speak  of  the  rising 
sun  or  the  arch  of  heaven.  Poetry  delights  in  these 
sensible  images  and  assimilations  of  ideas,  in  themselves 
distinct.  From  the  imperfection  of  human  language, 


260  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

it  will  perhaps  always  be  necessary  to  describe  many 
things  in  the  material,  and  still  more  in  the  moral  and 
metaphysical,  world,  under  similitudes  which  fall  greatly 
beneath  their  reality : 
Thus,  in  Shakspeare, 

;  the  floor  of  heaven 


Is  thick  inlaid  with  patines  of  bright  gold." 

In  Spenser's  '  Faerie  Q,ueene,' 

"  The  sacred  fire,  which  burneth  mightily 
In  Jiving  breasts,  was  kindled  first  above, 
Among  the  eternal  spheres  and  lampy  heavens." 

In  '  Paradise  Lost,'  the  moon  divides  her  empire 

"  With  thousand  thousand  stars,  that  then  appeared 
Spangling  the  universe." 

Now,  though  these  images,  separately  weighed,  at  the 
present  day,  may  seem  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  sub- 
ject to  which  they  are  applied,  they  are  poetical  and 
pleasing,  (with  the  exception,  possibly,  of  lampy  ;)  nor 
do  I  know,  that,  in  any  state  of  science,  however  ad- 
vanced, such  language  will  cease  to  please. 

But  the  point  I  maintain  is  this ;  that,  as  knowledge 
extends,  the  range  of  all  imagery  is  enlarged,  poetical 
language  is  drawn  from  a  wider  circle,  and,  what  is  far 
more  important,  that  the  conception  kindles  by  the 
contemplation  of  higher  objects. 

Let  us  illustrate  this  point,  still  further,  in  reference 
to  the  effect  on  poetry  of  the  sublime  discoveries  of 
modern  astronomy.  The  ancients,  as  we  all  know, 
formed  but  humble  conceptions  of  the  material  universe. 
The  earth  was  the  centre ;  the  sun,  moon,  and  live 
planets,  were  shining  bodies,  revolving  about  it,  to  give 
it  light,  and  the  stars  were  luminaries,  hung  up  as  lamps 
in  a  vaulted  sky.  This  philosophy  not  only  lies  at  the 
foundation  of  the  imagery,  under  which  Homer  repre- 
sents the  heavens,  but  it  prevailed  so  long,  and  falls  in 
so  entirely  with  the  impressions  made  upon  the  eye,  that 
it  has  given  a  character  to  the  .traditionary  language 
of  poetry,  even  to  the  present  day.  Shakspeare,  and 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  261 

Spenser,  and  Milton,  as  we  have  just  seen,  in  this  re- 
spect, draw  their  images  from  the  same  source  as  Virgil, 
Homer,  and  Hesiod. 

Now  I  cannot  but  think,  that,  when  the  sublime  dis- 
coveries of  modern  astronomy  shall  have  become  as 
thoroughly  wrought  into  the  vocabulary  and  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  community,  as  the  humble  and  erroneous 
conceptions  of  the  ancients,  the  great  and  creative  minds 
will  derive  from  them  a  vastly,  grander  range  of  poetical 
illustration.  I  cannot  but  think,  that,  by  the  study  of 
this  one  science  alone,  thought,  speech,  and  literature, 
will  be  wonderfully  exalted.  This  is  not,  in  reference  to 
poetry,  a  mere  matter  of  poetical  imagery.  The  ideas 
formed  of  Divine  wisdom  and  power,  of  infinite  space, 
of  stupendous  magnitude  and  force,  and  of  the  grandeur 
and  harmony  of  the  material  universe,  are  among  the 
highest  materials  of  thought,  and  the  most  prolific  ele- 
ments of  poetical  conception.  For  this  reason,  in  the 
same  proportion  in  which  the  apparent  circuit  of  the 
heavens  has  been  enlarged,  and  the  science  of  astrono- 
my extended,  by  the  telescope,  the  province  of  imagina- 
tion and  thought  must  be  immeasurably  extended,  also. 
The  STml  becomes  great,  by  the  habitual  contemplation 
of  great  objects.  As  the  discovery  of  a  new  continent 
upon  the  surface  of  the  globe,  by  Columbus,  gave  a 
most  powerful  impulse  to  the  minds  of  men,  in  every 
department,  it  is  impossible  that  the  discovery  of  worlds 
and  system  of  worlds,  in  the  immensity  of  space,  should 
not  wonderfully  quicken  the  well-instructed  genius. 
As  the  ambition,  the  avarice,  the  adventure,  the  legion 
host  of  human  passions,  rushed  out  from  the  old  world 
upon  the  new,  so  the  fancy  must  wing  its  way,  with 
unwonted  boldness,  into  the  new-found  universe, 

"  Beyond  the  solar  walk  or  milky  way." 

In  '  Paradise  Lost,'  there  is  a  struggle  between  the 
old  and  new  philosophy.  The  telescope  was  known, 
but  had  not  yet  revolutionized  the  science  of  astronomy. 
Even  Lord  Bacon  did  not  adopt  the  Copernican  system, 


262  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

and  Galileo's  wonderful  instrument  had  produced  scarce 
any  result,  beyond  a  more  distinct  conception  of  the 
magnitudes  of  the  bodies,  which  compose  the  solar  sys- 
tem. But  it  is  pleasing  to  remark,  with  what  prompt- 
ness Milton  seizes  upon  this  new  topic  of  poetical  illus- 
tration. In  his  very  first  description  of  the  arch-fiend, 
we  are  told  of 

.  "  his  ponderous  shield, 

Ethereal  temper,  massy,  large,  and  round, 
Behind  him  cast  ;  the  broad  circumference 
Hung  on  his  shoulders,  like  the  moon,  whose  orb, 
Through  optic  glass,  the  Tuscan  artist  views, 
At  evening  from  the  top  of  Fesole, 
Or  in  Valdarno,  to  descry  new  lands, 
Rivers,  or  mountains,  in  her  spotty  globe." 

Grand  and  sublime  as  is  this  imagery,  it  is  borrowed 
from  the  lowest  order  of  the  wonders  unfolded  by  the 
telescope.  I  cannot  but  think,  if  the  whole  circle  of 
modern  astronomy  had  been  disclosed  to  the  mind  of 
Milton,  that  it  would  have  filled  his  soul  with  still  bright- 
er visions.  Could  he  have  learned,  from  the  lips  of  its 
great  discoverer,  the  organic  law  which  regulates  the 
entire  motions  of  the  heavens  ;  could  he  have  witnessed 
the  predicted  return  of  a  comet,  and  been  taught,  that, 
of  these  mysterious  bodies,  seven  millions  are  supposed 
to  run  their  wild  career  within  the  orbit  of  the  planet 
Uranus ;  and  that,  by  estimation,  one  hundred  millions 
of  stars,  each  probably  the  centre  of  a  system  as  vast 
as  our  own, — multitudes  of  them  combined  into  mighty 
systems  of  suns  wondrously  complicated  with  each  oth- 
er,— are  distributed  throughout  space,  would  these  stu- 
pendous views  have  been  lost  on  his  mind  ?  I  can  never 
believe  that  truth,  the  great  quickener  and  inspirer, 
revealed  in  such  majestic  glimpses,  would  have  fallen 
inoperative  on  such  an  intellect.  He  would  have  awak- 
ed to  a  new  existence,  in  the  light  of  such  a  philosophy. 
Escaping  from  the  wholly  false  and  the  partly  false, 
"  the  utter  and  the  middle  darkness"  of  the  Ptolemaic 
system,  he  would  have  felt  the  "  sovereign  vital  lamp" 
of  pure  science,  in  his  inmost  soul.  He  would  have 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  263 

borrowed  from  La  Place  the  wings  of  the  boldest  an- 
alysis, and  would  have  flown  to  the  uttermost  parts  of 
creation,  where  he  could  have  seen  through  the  teles- 
cope, the  bands  of  Orion  loosened,  and  the  gems  of  his 
glittering  belt  blazing  out  into  empyreal  suns,  while 
crowded  galaxies,  "  powdered  with  stars,"  rushed  asun- 
der into  illimitable  systems.  He  would  have  soared 
with  the  Herschels,  father  and  son,  to  the  outer  regions 
of  space,  and  drawn,  from  every  part  of  the  Newtonian 
philosophy,  new  ornaments  for  his  immortal  verse. 

But,  sublime  and  inspiring  as  are  these  glimpses, 
imparted  to  us  by  modern  science,  of  the  upper  heav- 
ens, we  have  much  reason  to  think  that  they  are  but 
glimpses  ;  that  they  awaken  but  faint  conceptions  of  a 
glorious  reality,  as  yet  unimagined.  We  do  literally 
but  look  through  a  glass,  darkly,  at  these  myriads  of 
worlds.  The  remark  of  Newton,  that  his  sublime 
discoveries  seemed  to  him  but  as  so  many  pebbles  or 
shells,  picked  up  on  the  shore  of  the  great  undiscov- 
ered ocean  of  truth,  is  well  calculated  to  make  our 
hearts  burn  within  us.  It  may  hereafter  appear,  that 
size,  motion,  light,  and  heat,  are  the  lowest  attributes 
of  the  heavenly  bodies ;  that  they  are  the  abodes  of 
mind.  All  profane  literature  is  pervaded  with  the  sen- 
timent, that  the  heavenly  bodies  are  the  seats  of  orders 
of  intelligence,  kindred  or  superior  to  our  own  ;  and 
the  Scriptures  tell  us,  how  the  morning  stars  sang 
together,  and  the  sons  of  God  Shouted  for  joy.  The 
united  testimony  of  poetry  and  inspiration  may  well  be 
believed : 

"  There  'e  noFthe  smallest  orb  that  thou  behold'st 
But,  in  hid  motion,  like  an  angel  sings, 
Still  quiring  to  the  young-eyed  cherubins, 
Such  harmony  is  in  immortal  souls  : 
But,  while  this  muddy  vesture  of  decay 
Doth  grossly  close  it  in,  we  cannot  hear  it." 

It  may  be,  that  the  laws  of  the  material  universe, 
gravitation  itself,  may  be  resolved  into  the  intelligent 
action  of  the  minds,  by  which  it  is  inhabited  and  con- 


264  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

trolled, — empowered  to  this  high  function,  by  the  su- 
preme intellect.  It  may  be,  that,  at  some  advanced 
stage  of  human  science,  the  contemplative  and  pious 
genius  will  be  enabled  to  lift  the  veil,  which  now  hangs 
between  spirit  and  sense.  An  intense  desire  to  pass 
this  barrier  characterizes  the  boldest  efforts  of  creative 
mind,  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge.  Should 
it  ever  be  broken  down  ;  should  mortal  but  living  man 
ever  penetrate  that  mysterious  temple  of  the  Infinite, 
in  whose  vestibule  the  purest  offerings  of  the  rapt  soul 
have  ever  been  made, — philosophy,  poetry,  art,  elo- 
quence, and  music,  will  speak  with  new  voices ;  and 
all  that  has  hitherto  charmed  the  taste,  or  satisfied  the 
reason,  or  stirred  the  depths  of  the  heart,  will  be  as 
nursery  tales. 

If  such  an  anticipation  ever  be  realized,  it  will  be 
through  the  joint  influence  of  intellectual  and  moral 
culture,  diffused  by  education,  till  a  new  mental  atmos- 
phere is  created.  It  is  painful  to  reflect,  that,  of  the 
few  great  minds,  to  whom  the  superiority  over  all  oth- 
ers is  conceded,  one  half,  at  least,  lived  in  the  darkness  of 
heathenism,  and  in  a  very  imperfect  state  of  civilization. 

Not  a  ray  of  pure  spiritual  illumination  shines  through 
the  sweet  visions  of  the  Father  of  Poetry.*  The  light 
of  his  genius,  like  that  of  the  moon,  as  he  describes  it 
in  the  eighth  Iliad,f  is  serene,  transparent,  and  heavenly 
fair ;  it  streams  into  the  deepest  glades,  and  settles  on 
the  mountain  tops,  of  'the  material  and  social  world ; 
but,  for  all  that  concerns  the  spiritual  nature,  it  is  cold, 
watery,  and  unquickening.  The  great  test  of  the  ele- 
vation of  the  poet's  mind,  and  of  the  refinement  of  the 
age  in  which  he  lives,  is  the  distinctness,  power,  and 
purity,  with  which  he  conceives  the  spiritual  world.  In 
all  else,  he  may  be  the  observer,  the  recorder,  the  paint- 
er ;  but,  in  this  dread  sphere,  he  must  assume  the  prov- 
ince, which  his  name  imports ;  he  must  be  the  maker : 

*  Homer.  ,. 

t  Homer's  Iliad,  VIII.  551. 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  265 

• 

creating  his  own  spiritual  world  by  the  highest  action 
of  his  mind,  upon  all  the  external  and  internal  materials 
of  thought.  If  ever  there  was  a  poetical  vision,  calcu- 
lated, not  to  purify  and  to  exalt,  but  to  abase  and  to 
sadden,  it  is  the  visit  of  Ulysses  to  the  lower  regions.* 
The  ghosts  of  the  illustrioas  departed  are  drawn  before 
him,  by  the  reeking  fumes  of  the  recent  sacrifice ;  and 
the  hero  stands  guard,  with  his  drawn  sword,  to  drive 
away  the  shade  of  his  own  mother  from  the  gory  trench, 
over  which  she  hovers,  hankering  after  the  raw  blood. 
Does  it  require  an  essay  on  the  laws  of  the  human  mind, 
to  show  that  the  intellect,  which  contemplates  the  great 
mystery  of  our  being,  under  this  ghastly  and  frivolous 
imagery,  has  never  been  born  to  a  spiritual  life,  nor 
caught  a  glimpse  of  the  highest  heaven  of  poetry  ?  Vir- 
gil's spiritual  world  was  not  essentially  superior  to  Ho- 
mer's ;  but  the  Roman  poet  lived  in  a  civilized  age, 
and  his  visions  of  the  departed  are  marked  with  a  de- 
corum and  grace,  which  form  the  appropriate  counter- 
part of  the  Homeric  roughness. 

In  Dante,  for  the  first  time  in  an  uninspired  bard, 
the  dawn  of  a  spiritual  day  breaks  upon  us.  Although 
the  shadows  of  superstition  rest  upon  him,  yet  the  strains 
of  the  prophets  were  in  his  ears,  and  the  light  of  Divine 
truth,  strong  though  clouded,  was  in  his  soul.  As  we 
stand  with  him  on  the  threshold  of  the  world  of  sorrows, 
and  read  the  awful  inscription  over  the  portal ,f  a  chill, 
from  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  comes  over 
the  heart.  The  compass  of  poetry  contains  no  image, 
which  surpasses  this  dismal  inscription,  in  solemn  gran- 
deur ;  nor  is  there,  any  where,  a  more  delicious  strain 
of  tender  poetic  beauty,  than  that  of  the  distant  vesper 
bell,  which  seems  to  mourn  for  the  departing  day,  as  it 
is  heard  by  the  traveller  just  leaving  his  home.J  But 

*  Odyssey,  XI. 

t  "All  hope  abandon,  ye  who  enter  here," — Dell'  Inferno,  Con- 
to  ///. 

t  Del  Purgatorio,  Canto  VIII. 

23  B.  E. 


266  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Dante  lived  in  an  age,  when  Christianity,  if  I  may  so 
speak,  was  paganized.  Much  of  his  poem,  substance 
as  well  as  ornament,  is  heathen.  Too  much  of  his  in- 
spiration is  drawn  from  the  stormy  passions  of  life.  The 
warmth  with  which  he  glowed  is  too  often  the  kindling 
of  scorn  and  indignation,  biwning  under  a  sense  of  in- 
tolerable wrong.  The  holiest  muse  may  string  his  lyre, 
but  it  is  too  often  the  incensed  partisan  that  sweeps  the 
strings.  The  divine  comedy,  as  his  wonderful  work  is 
called,  is  much  of  it  mere  mortal  satire. 

In  '  Paradise  Lost,'  we  feel  as  if  we  were  admitted 
to  the  outer  courts  of  the  Infinite.  In  that  all-glorious 
temple  of  genius  inspired  by  truth,  we  catch  the  full 
diapason  of  the  heavenly  organ.  With  its  first  choral 
swell,  the  soul  is  lifted  from  the  earth.  In  the  '  Divina 
Commedia,'  the  man,  the  Florentine,  the  exiled  Ghibel- 
line,  stands  out,  from  first  to  last,  breathing  defiance 
and  revenge.  Milton,  in  some  of  his  prose  works,  be- 
trays the  partisan  also ;  but  in  his  poetry,  we  see  him 
in  the  white  robes  of  the  minstrel,  with  upturned  though 
sightless  eyes,  rapt  in  meditation  at  the  feet  of  the  heav- 
enly muse.  Dante,  in  his  dark  vision,  descends  to  the 
depths  of  the  world  of  perdition,  and,  homeless  fugitive 
as  he  is,  drags  his  proud  and  prosperous  enemies  down 
with  him,  and  buries  them,  doubly  destroyed,  in  the 
flaming  sepulchres  of  the  lowest  hell.*  Milton,  on  the 
other  hand,  seems  almost  to  have  purged  off  the  dross 
of  humanity.  Blind,  poor,  friendless,  in  solitude  and 
sorrow,  with  quite  as  much  reason  as  his  Italian  rival 
to  repine  at  his  fortune  and  war  against  mankind,  how 
calm  and  unimpassioned  is  he,  in  all  that  concerns  his 
own  personality  !  He  deemed  too  highly  of  his  Divine 
gift,  to  make  it  the  instrument  of  immortalizing  his  ha 
treds.  One  cry,  alone,  of  sorrow  at  his  blindness,  one 
pathetic  lamentation,  over  the  evil  days  on  which  he  had 
fallen,  bursts/rom  his  full  heart.f  There  is  not  a  flash 

*  Dell'  Inferno,  Cantos  IX.  X. 

t  Paradise  Lost,  Books  III.  and  VII.  at  the  beginning. 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  267 

of  human  wrath  in  all  his  pictures  of  wo.  Hating  noth- 
ing but  evil  spirits,  in  the  childlike  simplicity  of  his 
heart,  his  pure  hands  undefined  with  the  pitch  of  the 
political  intrigues  in  which  he  had  lived,  he  breathes 
forth  his  inexpressibly  majestic  strains,  the  poetry  not 
so  much  of  earth  as  of  heaven. 

Can  it  be  hoped,  that,  under  the  operation  of  the  in- 
fluences to  which  we  have  alluded,  any  thing  superior 
to  '  Paradise  Lost'  will  ever  be  produced  by  man  ?  It 
requires  a  courageous  faith  in  general  principles,  to  be- 
lieve it.  I  dare  not  call  it  a  probable  event ;  but  can 
we  say  it  is  impossible  ?  If,  out  of  the  wretched  intel- 
lectual and  moral  elements  of  the  Commonwealth  in 
England,  imparting,  as  they  did,  at  times,  too  much  of 
their  contagion  to  Milton's  mind,  a  poem  like  'Paradise 
Lost'  could  spring  forth,  shall  no  corresponding  fruit 
of  excellence  be  produced,  when  knowledge  shall  be 
universally  diffused,  society  enlightened,  elevated,  and 
equalized ;  and  the  standard  of  moral  and  religious 
principle,  in  public  and  private  affairs,  raised  far  above 
its  present  level?  A  continued  progress  in  the  intel- 
lectual world  is  consistent  with  all  that  we  know  of  the 
laws  that  govern  it,  and  with  all  experience.  A  pre- 
sentiment of  it  lies  deep  in  the  soul  of  man,  spark  as  it 
is  of  the  Divine  nature.  The  craving  after  excellence, 
the  thirst  for  truth  and  beauty,  has  never  been,  never 
can  be,  fully  slaked  at  the  fountains  which  have  flowed 
beneath  the  touch  of  the  enchanter's  wand.  Man  lis- 
tens to  the  heavenly  strain,  and  straightway  becomes 
desirous  of  still  loftier  melodies.  It  has  nourished  ind 
strengthened,  instead  of  satiating,  his  taste.  Fed  by  the 
Divine  aliment,  he  can  enjoy  more,  he  can  conceive 
more,  he  can  himself  perform  more. 

Should  a  poet,  of  loftier  muse  than  Milton,  hereafter 
appear,  or,  to  speak  more  reverently,  when  the  Milton 
of  a  better  age  shall  arise,  there  is  yet  remaining  one 
subject  worthy  his  powers, — the  counterpart  of  '  Para- 
dise Lost.'  In  the  conception  of  this  subject,  by  Mil- 
ton, then  mature  in  the  experience  of  his  great  poem, 


268  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

we  have  the  highest  human  judgement,  that  this  is  the 
one  remaining  theme.  In  his  uncompleted  attempt  to 
achieve  it,  we  have  the  greatest  cause  for  the  doubt, 
whether  it  be  not  beyond  the  grasp  of  the  human  mind. 
in  its  present  state  of  cultivation.  But  I  am  unwilling 
to  think  that  this  theme,  immeasurably  the  grandest 
which  can  be  contemplated  by  the  mind  of  man,  will 
never  receive  a  poetical  illustration,  proportioned  to  its 
sublimity.  It  seems  to  me  impossible,  that  the  time, 
doubtless  far  distant,  should  not  eventually  arrive,  when 
another  Milton,  divorcing  his  heart  from  the  delights  of 
life ;  purifying  his  bosom  from  its  angry  and  its  selfish 
passions ;  relieved,  by  happier  fortunes,  from  care  and 
sorrow ;  pluming  the  wings  of  his  spirit  in  solitude,  by 
abstinence  and  prayer,  will  address  himself  to  this  only 
remaining  theme  of  a  great  Christian  epic.* 

II.  The  fulfilment  of  anticipations  like  these,  both 
as  to  time  and  manner,  is  of  course  wrapt  up  in  the  un- 
certain future.  The  province  of  education,  in  which 
we  may  all  labor,  and  in  which  the  effects  to  be  im- 
mediately hoped  for  stand  in  some  assignable  propor- 
tion to  the  means  employed,  is  the  improvement  of  the 
minds  of  the  mass  of  the  people.  This  is  the  second 
question  to  which  I  alluded,  in  the  commencelnent  of 
my  remarks.  May  not  a  great  increase  be  made,  in  the 
number  of  those  who  receive  a  good  education,  and  may 
not  the  education  of  all  be  made  much  better  ?  I  mean, 
much  more  thorough  and  extensive,  as  to  the  knowledge 
acquired,  and  much  more  efficacious  and  productive,  as 
to  the  training  of  the  mind  ?  These  questions,  I  am 
persuaded,  must  be  answered  in  the  affirmative.  It  is 

*  Although  I  do  not  at  present  recollect,  that  the  tendency  of  the 
progress  of  knowledge  to  produce  higher  displays  of  genius  has  been 
before  distinctly  maintained,  to  the  same  extent,  the  doctrine  appears 
to  me  to  be  supported  by  very  high  authorities.  Longinus,  in  the 
ninth  chapter  of  his  Treatise  on  the  Sublime,  (Ed.  Mori,  p.  42,)  lays 
down  principles,  leading  directly  to  this  result  ;  and  Cicero,  in  his 
Orator,  §  34,  points  still  more  plainly  to  the  same  conclusion,  and  in 
reference  to  the  science  from  which  the  illustration  is  drawn  on  page 
261.  See  also  the  Spectator,  No.  633. 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  269 

at  once  melancholy  and  fearful  to  reflect,  how  much  in- 
tellect is  daily  perishing,  from  inaction  ;  or  worse  than 
perishing,  from  the  false  direction  given  it  in  the  morn- 
ing of  life. 

I  fear,  we  do  not  yet  fully  realize  what  is  meant, 
when  we  speak  of  the  improvement  of  the  mind.  I 
fear,  it  is  not  yet  enough  considered,  by  legislators  or 
parents,  that  there  dwells,  in  every  rational  being,  an 
intellect  endowed  with  a  portion  of  the  faculties,  which 
form  the  glory  and  happiness  of  our  nature,  and  which, 
developed  and  exerted,  are  the  source  of  all  that  makes 
man  to  differ,  essentially,  from  the  clod  of  the  valley. 
Neglected  and  uncultivated,  deprived  of  its  appropriate 
nourishment,  denied  the  discipline  which  is  necessary 
to  its  healthy  growth,  this  Divine  principle  all  but  ex- 
pires, and  the  man,  whom  it  was  sent  to  enlighten, 
sinks  down,  before  his  natural  death,  to  his  kindred 
dust.  Trained  and  instructed,  strengthened  by  wise 
discipline  and  guided  by  pure  principle,  it  ripens  into 
an  intelligence  but  a  little  lower  than  the  angels.  This 
is  the  work  of  education.  The  early  years  of  life  are 
the  period  when  it  must  commonly  be  obtained ;  and, 
if  this  opportunity  is  lost,  it  is  too  often  a  loss  which 
nothing  can  repair. 

It  is  usual,  to  compare  the  culture  of  the  mind  to  the 
culture  of  the  earth.  If  the  husbandman  relax  his  la- 
bors, and  his  field  be  left  untilled,  this  year  or  the  next, 
although  a  crop  or  two  be  lost,  the  evil  may  be  reme- 
died. The  land,  with  its  productive  qualities,  remains. 
If  not  ploughed  and  planted,  this  year,  it  may  be,  the 
year  after.  But  if  the  mind  be  wholly  neglected,  dur- 
ing the  period  most  proper  for  its  cultivation,  if  it  be 
suffered  to  remain  dark  and  uninformed,  its  vital  power 
perishes  ;  for  all  the  purposes  of  an  intellectual  nature, 
it  is  lost.  It  is  as  if  an  earthquake  had  swallowed  up 
the  uncultivated  fallows ;  or  as  if  a  swollen  river  had 
washed  away,  not  merely  the  standing  crop,  but  the 
bank  on  which  it  was  growing.  When  the  time  for 
education  has  gone  by,  the  man  must,  in  ordinary  ca- 
23* 


270  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

ses,  be  launched  upon  the  world  a  benighted  being, 
scarcely  elevated  above  the  beasts  that  perish ;  and  all 
that  he  could  have  been  and  done,  for  society  and  for 
himself,  is  wholly  lost. 

Although  this  utter  sacrifice  of  the  intellectual  nature 
is  rarely  made,  in  this  part  of  the  Country,  I  fear  there  ex- 
ists, even  here,  a  woful  waste  of  mental  power,  through 
neglect  of  education.  Taking  our  population  as  a  whole, 
I  fear  that  there  is  not  nearly  time  enough  passed  at 
school ;  that  many  of  those,  employed  in  the  business 
of  instruction,  are  incompetent  to  the  work ;  and  that 
our  best  teachers  are  not  sufficiently  furnished  with  lit- 
erary apparatus,  particularly  with  school  libraries.  If 
these  defects  could  be  supplied,  I  believe  a  few  years 
would  witness  a  wonderful  effect  upon  the  community  ; 
that  an  impulse,  not  easily  conceived  beforehand,  would 
be  given  to  individual  and  social  character. 

I  am  strongly  convinced,  that  it  behoves  our  ancient 
Commonwealth  to  look  anxiously  to  this  subject,  if  she 
wishes  to  maintain  her  honorable  standing,  in  this  Un- 
ion of  States.  I  am  not  grieved,  when  I  behold,  on 
the  map,  the  enormous  dimensions  of  some  of  the  new 
States  in  the  West,  as  contrasted  with  the  narrow  little 
strip  which  comprises  the  good  old  Bay  State.  They 
are  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh ;  their  wel- 
fare is  closely  interwoven  with  ours ;  in  every  thing 
that  can  promote  their  solid  prosperity,  I  bid  them  God 
speed,  with  all  my  heart.  I  hear,  without  discontent, 
the  astonishing  accounts  of  their  fertility ;  that  their 
vast  prairies  are  covered  with  more  feet  of  rich  vegeta- 
ble mould,  than  our  soil,  on  an  average,  can  boast  of 
inches ;  and  I  can  bear  to  hear  it  said,  without  envy, 
that  their  Missouri  and  Mississippi,  the  mighty  Abana 
and  Pharpar  of  the  West,  are  better  than  all  the  waters 
of  our  poor  New-England  Israel. 

All  this,  I  can  bear ;  but  I  cannot  bear  that  our  be- 
loved native  State,  whose  corner-stone  was  laid  upon 
an  intellectual  and  moral  basis,  should  deprive  itself, 
by  its  own  neglect,  of  the  great  counterpoise  to  these 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  271 

physical  advantages.  Give  the  sons  of  Massachusetts, 
small  and  comparatively  unfertile  as  she  is,  the  means 
of  a  good  education,  and  they  will  stand  against  the 
world.  Give  me  the  means  of  educating  my  children, 
and  I  will  not  exchange  its  thirstiest  sands  nor  its 
barest  peak,  for  the  most  fertile  spot  on  earth,  depriv- 
ed of  those  blessings.  I  would  rather  occupy  the 
bleakest  nook  of  the  mountain  that  towers  above  us,* 
with  the  wild  wolf  and  the  rattlesnake  for  my  nearest 
neighbors,  with  a  village  school,  well  kept,  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  hill,  than  dwell  in  a  paradise  of  fertility,  if 
I  must  bring  up  my  children  in  lazy,  pampered,  self-suf- 
ficient ignorance.  A  man  may  protect  himself  against 
the  rattle  and  the  venom  ;  but,  if  he  unnecessarily  leaves 
the  mind  of  his  offspring  a  prey  to  ignorance,  and  the 
vices  that  too  often  follow  in  its  train,  he  may  find,  too 
late  for  remedy, 

"  How  sharper  than  a  serpent's  tooth  it  is, 
To  have  a  thankless  child." 

A  thankless  child  !  No,  I  will  not  wrong  him.  He 
may  be  any  thing  else  that  is  bad,  but  he  cannot  be 
a  thankless  child.  What  has  he  to  be  thankful  for  ? 
No !  The  man,  who  unnecessarily  deprives  his  son  of 
education,  and  thus  knowingly  trains  him  up  in  the 
way  he  should  not  go,  may  have  a  perverse,  an  intract- 
able, a  prodigal,  child,  one  who  will  bring  down,  ay, 
drag  down,  his  gray  hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave,  but 
a  thankless  child  he  cannot  have. 

As  I  have  said,  I  think  this  matter  must  be  looked 
to.  If  the  all-important  duty  of  training  the  mental 
powers  of  the  young  is  intrusted  to  the  cheapest  hand 
that  can  be  hired  to  do  the  work  ;  to  one  who  is  barely 
able  to  pass  a  nominal  examination,  by  a  committee 
sometimes  more  ignorant  than  himself,  in  the  modicum 
of  learning  prescribed  by  law  ;  and  slender  as  the  priv- 
ilege of  such  instruction  is,  if  it  be  enjoyed  by  our  chil- 
dren but  for  ten  or  twelve  weeks  in  the  year,  as  is  the 

*  Saddle  Mountain,  between  Williamstown  and  Adams. 


272  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

case  in  too  many  towns  in  the  Commonwealth,  it  is 
plain  to  see,  that  they  are  deprived  of  the  best  part  of 
their  birthright.  I  know  it  is  said,  that  these  few  weeks, 
in  the  depth  of  Winter,  are  all  of  his  children's  time 
that  the  frugal  husbandman  can  spare.  But  can  it  be 
so?  Can  the  labors  of  the  field,  or  any  other  labors, 
be  so  hotly  pressed  among  us,  that  ten  or  twelve  weeks 
are  all  the  time,  for  which  the  labor  of  the  youth  of 
both  sexes  can  be  dispensed  with,  for  five  or  six  hours 
a  day  ?  I  speak  with  diffidence  on  the  subject,  but 
such,. I  .apprehend,  cannot  be  the  case.  I  cannot 
but  think  that  a  majority  of  the  citizens  of  Massa- 
chusetts, of  all  pursuits  and  callings,  might,  without 
the  least  detriment  to  their  interests,  send  their  chil- 
dren steadily  to  a  good  school,  seven  months  in  the 
year,  and  more  or  less  of  the  time,  the  other  five. 
Without  detriment,  did  I  say  ?  Nay,  with  incalcula- 
ble advantage  to  their  children,  to  themselves,  and. to 
the  State. 

It  would  be  more  rational  to  talk  about  not  affording 
seed-corn,  than  to  talk  about  not  affording  our  children 
as  much  of  their  time  as  is  necessary  for  their  educa- 
tion. What !  shall  a  man  plant  his  field,  and  allow 
his  child's  intellect  to  run  to  weeds  ?  It  would  be  as 
wise  to  eat  up  all  the  wheat,  and  sow  the  husks  and 
the  chaff  for  next  year's  crop,  as,  on  a  principle  of 
thrift,  to  sow  ignorance  and  its  attendant  helplessness 
and  prejudices  in  your  children's  minds,  and  expect  to 
reap  an  honorable  and  a  happy  manhood.  It  would  be 
better  husbandry,  to  go,  in  the  Summer,  and  clatter 
with  a  hoe  in  the  bare  gravel,  where  nothing  was  ever 
sown  but  the  feathered  seed  of  the  Canada  thistle, 
which  the  west  wind  drops  from  its  sweeping  wings, 
and  come  back,  in  Autumn,  and  expect  to  find  a  field 
of  yellow  grain  nodding  to  the  sickle,  than  to  allow 
your  son  to  grow  up  without  useful  knowledge,  and 
expect  that  he  will  sustain  himself  with  respectability, 
in  life,  or  (if  consideration  must  be  had  of  self-inter- 
est) prop  and  comfort  your  decline.  Not  spare  our 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  273 

children's  time  ?  Spare  it,  I  might  ask  you,  from  what  ? 
Is  any  thing  more  important?  Spare  it  for  what? 
Can  it  be  better  employed,  than  in  that  cultivation  of 
the  mind,  which  will  vastly  increase  the  value  of  every 
subsequent  hour  of  life  ?  And  to  confine  them,  in  the 
morning  of  their  days,  to  a  round  of  labor  for  the  meat 
that  perisheth, — is  it  not,  when  our  children  ask  for 
bread,  to  give  them  a  stone  ;  when  they  ask  for  a  fish, 
to  give  them  a  serpent,  which  will  sting  our  bosoms  as 
well  as  theirs  ? 

Our  governments,  as  well  as  individuals,  have,  I  must 
needs  say,  a  duty  to  discharge,  to  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion. Something  has  been  done,  by  some  of  the  State 
governments  much  has  been  done,  for  this  cause  ;  but 
too  much,  I  fear,  remains  undone.  In  the  main,  in 
appropriating  the  public  funds,  we  tread  too  much  in 
the  footsteps  of  European  precedents.  I  could  wish 
our  legislators  might  be  animated  with  a  purer  ambi- 
tion. In  other  parts  of  the  world,  the  resources  of  the 
state,  too  often  wrung  from  their  rightful  possessors, 
are  squandered  on  the  luxury  of  governments,  built  up 
into  the  walls  of  stately  palaces  or  massy  fortifications, 
devoured  by  mighty  armies,  sunk  by  overgrown  navies 
to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  swallowed  up  in  the  eternal 
wars  of  state  policy.  The  treasure,  expended  in  a 
grand  campaign  of  the  armies  of  the  leading  states  of 
Europe,  would  send  a  schoolmaster  to  every  hamlet, 
from  Archangel  to  Lisbon.  The  annual  expense  of 
supporting  the  armies  and  navies  of  Great  Britain  and 
France,  if  applied  to  the  relief  and  education  of  the 
poor,  in  those  countries,  would  change  the  character  of 
the  age  in  which  we  live.  Perhaps  it  is  too  much  to 
hope,  that,  in  the  present  condition  of  the  politics  of 
Europe,  this  system  can  be  departed  from.  It  seems 
to  be  admitted,  as  a  fundamental  maxim  of  international 
law  among  its  governments,  that  the  whole  energy  of 
their  civilization  must  be  exhausted,  in  preventing  them 
from  destroying  each  other.  With  us,  on  the  contrary, 
while  the  Union  of  the  States  is  preserved,  (and  Heav- 


274  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

en  grant  it  may  be  perpetual,)  no  obstacle  exists  to 
the  appropriation,  to  moral  and  intellectual  objects,  of 
a  great  part  of  those  resources  which  are  elsewhere 
lavished  on  luxury  and  war. 

How  devoutly  is  it  to  be  wished,  that  we  could  feel 
the  beauty  and  dignity  of  such  a  policy,  and  aim  at  a 
new  developement  of  national  character !  From  the 
earliest  period  of  history,  the  mighty  power  of  the  as- 
sociation of  millions  of  men  into  a  people,  moved  by 
one  political  will,  has  been  applied  to  objects,  at  which 
humanity  weeps,  and  which,  were  they  not  written  on 
every  page  of  the  world's  experience,  would  be  abso- 
lutely incredible.  From  time  to  time,  a  personal  gath- 
ering is  witnessed ;  mighty  numbers  of  the  population 
assemble,  en  masse.  Doubtless,  it  is  some  noble  work 
which  they  are  going  to  achieve.  Marshalled  beneath 
gay  and  joyous  banners,  cheered  with  the  soul-stirring 
strains  of  music,  honored,  admired,  behold  how  they 
move  forward,  the  flower  of  the  community,  clothed,  fed, 
and  paid,  at  the  public  expense,  to  some  grand  under- 
taking !  They  go  not  empty-handed ;  their  approach 
is  discerned,  afar,  by  a  forest  of  glittering  steel  above 
their  heads,  and  the  earth  groans  beneath  their  trains 
of  enginery,  of  strange  form  and  superhuman  power. 
What  errand  of  love  has  called  them  out,  the  elected 
host,  to  go  in  person,  side  by  side,  and  unite  the  mighty 
mass  of  their  physical  powers  in  one  vast  effort  ?  Let 
the  sharp  volley  that  rings  along  the  lines ;  let  the 
scarcely  mimic  thunder  which  rends  the  sky ;  let  the 
agonizing  shrieks  which  rise  from  tojrn  and  trampled 
thousands,  return  the  answer.  Their  errand  is  death. 
They  go,  not  to  create,  but  to  destroy  ;  to  waste  and  to 
slay ;  to  blast  the  works  of  civilization  and  peace ;  to 
wrap  cities  in  flames,  and  to  cover  fertile  fields  with 
bloody  ashes. 

I  cannot,  will  not,  believe,  that  social  man  can  rise 
no  higher  than  this ;  that  reason  and  experience,  self- 
interest  and  humanity,  the  light  of  Nature,  the  progress 
of  knowledge,  and  the  word  of  God,  will  forever  prove 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  275 

too  feeble  for  this  monstrous  perversion  of  human  en- 
ergy. I  must  believe,  that  the  day  will  yet  dawn,  when 
the  great  efforts  of  individual  and  social  man  will  be 
turned  to  the  promotion  of  the  welfare  of  his  brother 
man.  If  this  hope  is  to  be  realized,  it  must  be  by  the 
joint  action  of  enlightened  reason,  elevated  morals,  and 
pure  religion,  brought  home,  by  a  liberal  and  efficient 
system  of  education  and  the  aid  of  Heaven,  to  every 
fireside  and  every  heart. 

Amidst  much  to  awaken  solicitude,  in  the  condition 
of  things  in  our  beloved  Country,  as  respects  the  pro- 
gress of  improvement,  there  is  yet  many  a  spot,  within 
its  borders,  sacred  to  better  hopes  and  higher  anticipa- 
tions. Let  us  dwell,  for  a  moment,  on  the  phenomena 
which  have  been  exhibited  on  the  spot  where  we  are 
now  assembled.  Scarce  eighty  years  have  elapsed, 
since  this  village  was  the  site  of  a  small  frontier  post. 
Nothing  which  could  be  called  settlement  had  crossed 
Connecticut  River.  The  pioneers  of  civilization  had 
begun  to  find  their  way  into  Berkshire,  but  they  hardly 
ventured  beyond  the  reach  of  the  line  of  forts  which 
guarded  the  frontier.  Sheffield  and  Stockbridge  were, 
I  believe,  the  only  towns  incorporated  before  the  old 
French  war  ;  and  beyond  them,  westward,  commenced 
the  dreary  wilderness,  pathless,  except  as  it  was  thread- 
ed by  war  parties  from  Canada  and  New  England,  and 
by  bands  of  wretched  captives,  dragged  from  their 
homes,  at  midnight,  to  a  miserable  slavery  among  the 
French  and  Indians.  The  alternate  action  of  the  two 
nations,  who  stood  at  the  head  of  the  civilization  of  the 
world,  had  been  felt,  for  a  century,  in  these  still  valleys 
and  venerable  forests ;  but  it  was  felt  only  to  add  the 
arts  of  civilized  destruction  to  the  horrors  of  savage 
warfare.  One  century  of  peaceful  improvement  and 
hopeful  progress  was  blotted  from  the  history  of  this 
portion  of  frontier  America. 

But  the  seeds  of  improvement  were  sown,  even  in 
this  bloody  soil.  One  of  those  generous  spirits,  who, 
from  time  to  time,  are  raised  up  to  accomplish  great 


276  SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

objects,  was  stationed  in  this  corner  of  the  Common- 
wealth, in  command  of  the  line  of  forts  erected  for 
border  defence.  You  know  that  I  allude  to  the  foun- 
der of  this  Institution.  He  foresaw,  even  then,  the 
destinies  of  the  Country.  He  knew  that  the  dreary 
forest  was  not  designed  forever  to  encumber  the  soil. 
He  beheld  it  yielding  to  the  march  of  civilization.  As 
he  heard  the  crash  of  the  sturdy  trunk,  falling  beneath 
the  narrow  axe  of  the  settler  ;  as  he  saw  the  log-cabins 
slowly  rising  on  the  edge  of  the  clearing,  and  beheld 
the  smoke  here  and  there  curling  up  in  the  lonely  and 
mysterious  woods  ;  as  he  heard  the  voice  of  the  moun- 
tain stream,  then  babbling,  unheeded,  over  the  rocks  ; 
his  sagacious  mind  overleaped  the  interval  of  years. 
He  was  called,  by  his  intrepid  spirit  and  his  country's 
voice,  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  first  scenes  of  the 
war  of  1755.  A  presentiment  of  his  fate  seems  to  have 
been  upon  his  mind.  Before  plunging  into  the  cam- 
paign, he  made  provision  for  the  appropriation  of  his 
fortune  to  furnish  the  means  of  education  to  the  peo- 
ple, whose  struggles,  in  settling  this  region,  he  had  wit- 
nessed and  shared.  His  will  was  made  at  Albany,  on 
the  twenty-second  of  July,  1755,  bequeathing  his  prop- 
erty for  the  foundation  of  this  Institution ;  and,  on  the 
eighth  of  September,  of  the  same  year,  in  an  engage- 
ment with  the  troops  under  the  Baron  Dieskau,  he  fell, 
at  the  head  of  his  regiment.  Eighty  years,  only,  have 
passed  away.  The  laudable  purposes  of  your  founder 
have  been  more  than  fulfilled;  and,  out  of  the  living 
fountain  struck  open  in  the  desert  by  his  generous 
bequest,  abundant  streams  of  piety  and  learning  have 
flowed,  and  are  flowing. 

Colonel  Williams's  character  was  of  no  ordinary 
mould.  At  a  distance  from  the  seat  of  his  benefaction, 
full  justice  has  not  been  done  to  his  memory.  A  man 
of  the  happiest  natural  temperament,  a  gentleman  of  the 
true  natural  stamp,  unassuming  and  simple,  supplying 
the  deficiency  of  a  learned  education  by  large  experience 
of  men  and  things,  acquired  in  foreign  travel,  in  the 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  277 

legislature,  and  in  the  army,  yet  modestly  lamenting 
what  others  did  not  trace,  his  want  of  early  advantages ; 
without  a  family,  but  the  patriarch  of  the  frontier  settle- 
ment where  he  was  stationed  ;  he  fell,  in  the  prime  of 
early  manhood,  a  victim  to  his  patriotic  zeal.  A  brief 
sketch  of  his  biography,  in  one  of  the  early  volumes  of 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,*  informs  us, 
that  he  witnessed,  with  humane  and  painful  sensations, 
the  dangers,  difficulties,  and  hardships,  which  the  set- 
tlers of  these  valleys  were  obliged  to  encounter ;  and 
that,  to  encourage  them,  he  was  accustomed  to  inti- 
mate the  purpose  which  was  carried  into  effect  in  his 
will.  I  regret,  not  to  have  found  Colonel  Williams's 
views,  on  this  subject,  preserved  somewhat  in  detail. 
It  would  have  been  exceedingly  interesting  to  see  the 
topic  of  education,  in  reference  to  the  wants  of  a  newly- 
settled  country,  as  it  presented  itself,  to  the  practical 
view  of  a  man  of  his  character,  en  the  eve  of  a  war. 
As  no  such  record,  as  far  as  I  know,  has  been  preserv- 
ed, you  will  pardon  me  for  attempting  to  present  the 
subject  to  you,  under  the  same  light  in  which  he  may 
have  contemplated  it. 

"  My  friends,"  (we  may  conceive  he  would  say,  to  a 
group  of  settlers,  gathered  about  old  Fort  Massachusetts, 
on  some  fit  occasion,  not  long  before  his  marching  to- 
ward the  place  of  rendezvous,)  "  your  hardships,  I  am 
aware,  are  great.  I  have  witnessed,  I  have  shared 
them.  The  hardships,  incident  to  opening  a  new  coun- 
try, are  always  severe.  They  are  heightened,  in  our 
case,  by  the  constant  danger  in  which  we  live,  from  the 
savage  enemy.  At  present,  we  are  rather  encamped' 
than  settled.  We  live  in  block-houses ;  we  lie  upon 
our  arms,  by  night ;  and,  like  the  Jews,  who  returned  to 
build  Jerusalem,!  we  go  to  work,  by  day,  with  the  im- 
plements of  husbandry  in  one  hand,  and  the  weapons 
of  war  in  the  other.  Nor  is  this  the  worst.  We  have 

*  First  Scries,  Vol.  VIII.  p.  47. 
t  Nehemiah  iv.  17. 

24  E.  E. 


278 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 


been  bred  up  in  the  populous  settlements  on  the  coast, 
where  the  schoolhouse  and  the  church  are  found  at 
the  centre  of  every  village.  Here,  as  yet,  we  can  have 
neither.  I  know  these  things  weigh  upon  you.  You 
look  upon  the  dark  and  impenetrable  forests,  in  which 
you  have  made  an  opening,  and  contrast  it  with  the 
pleasant  villages,  where  you  were  born  and  passed  your 
early  years,  where  your  parents  are  yet  living,  or  where 
they  have  gone  to  their  rest ;  and  you  cannot  suppress 
a  painful  emotion. 

"  You  are,  more  especially,  as  I  perceive,  somewhat 
disheartened,  at  the  present  moment  of  impending  war. 
But,  my  friends,  let  not  your  spirits  sink.  The  pros 
pect  is  overcast,  but  brighter  days  will  come.  In  vis- 
ion, I  can  plainly  foresee  them.  The  forest  disappears  ; 
the  cornfield,  the  pasture,  takes  its  place :  the  hill-sides 
are  spotted  with  .flocks ;  the  music  of  the  water-wheel 
sounds  in  accord  with  the  dashing  stream.  Your  little 
groups  of  log-cabins  swell  into  prosperous  villages. 
Schools  and  churches  spring  up  in  the  waste ;  institu- 
tions for  learning  arise ;  and,  in  what  is  now  a  wild 
solitude,  libraries  and  cabinets  unfold  their  treasures, 
and  observatories  point  their  tubes  to  the  heavens.  I 
tell  you,  that  not  all  the  united  powers  of  all  the 
French  and  Indians  on  the  St.  Lawrence, — no,  not  if 
backed  by  all  the  powers  of  darkness  which  seem,  at 
times,  in  league  with  them,  to  infest  this  howling  wil- 
derness,— will  long  prevent  the  valleys  of  the  Hoosac 
and  the  Housatonic  from  becoming  the  abode  of  in- 
dustry, abundance,  and  refinement.  A  century  will 
not  pass,  before  the  voice  of  domestic  wisdom  and  fire- 
side inspiration,  from  the  vales  of  Berkshire,  will  be 
heard  throughout  America  and  Europe.  As  for  the 
contest,  impending,  I  am  sure  we  shall  conquer;  if  I 
mistake  not,  it  is  the  first  of  a  series  of  events,  of  un- 
utterable moment  to  all  America,  and  even  to  man- 
kind. Before  it  closes,  the  banner  of  St.  George  will 
float,  I  am  sure,  over  Cape  Diamond  ;*  and  the  exten- 
*  At  Quebec. 


SUPERIOR  AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  279 

sion  of  the  British  power  over  the  whole  continent  will 
be  but  the  first  act  of  a  great  drama,  whose  catastrophe 
I  but  dimly  foresee. 

"  I  speak  of  what  concerns  the  whole  Country ;  the 
fortune  of  individuals  is  wrapt  in  the  uncertain  future. 
For  myself,  I  must  own,  that  I  feel  a  foreboding  at  my 
heart,  which  I  cannot  throw  off.  I  can  only  say,  if 
my  hour  is  come,  (and  I  think  it  is  not  distant,)  I  am 
prepared.  I  have  been  able  to  do  but  little ;  but,  if 
Providence  has  no  further  work  for  me  to  perform,  I 
am  ready  to  be  discharged  from  the  warfare.  It  is  my 
purpose,  before  I  am  taken  from  you,  to  make  a  dispo- 
sition of  my  property,  for  the  benefit  of  this  infant  com- 
munity. My  heart's  desire  is,  that,  in  the  picture  of  its 
future  prosperity,  which  I  behold  in  mental  view,  the 
last  and  best  of  earthly  blessings  shall  not  be  wanting. 
I  shall  deem  my  life  not  spent  in  vain,  though  it  be  cut 
off  to-morrow,  if,  at  its  close,  I  shall  be  accepted  as 
the  humble  instrument  of  promoting  the  great  cause  of 
education. 

"  My  friends,  as  I  am  soon  to  join  the  army,  we  meet, 
many  of  us,  perhaps,  for  the  last  time.  I  am  a  solitary 
branch ;  I  can  be  spared.  I  have  no  wife,  to  feel  my 
loss ;  no  children,  to  follow  me  to  the  grave.  Should 
I  fall  by  the  tomahawk  or  in  the  front  of  honorable  bat- 
tle, on  the  shores  of  the  stormy  lake  or  in  the  infested 
woods,  this  poor  body  may  want  even  a  friendly  hand 
to  protect  it  from  insult.  But  I  must  take  the  chance 
of  a  soldier's  life.  When  I  am  gone,  you  will  find  some 
proof  that  my  last  thoughts  were  with  the  settlers  of 
Fort  Massachusetts ;  and  perhaps,  at  some  future  day, 
should  my  desire  to  serve  you  and  your  children  not 
be  disappointed,  my  humble  name  will  not  be  forgotten 
in  the  public  assembly,  and  posterity  will  bestow  a  tear 
on  the  memory  of  EPHRAIM  WILLIAMS." 


280  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS. 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS  * 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN, — I  beg  leave  to 
congratulate  you,  on  the  success  of  your  efforts  to  estab- 
lish the  first  Fair  of  the  Massachusetts  Charitable  Me- 
chanic Association.  Under  circumstances  somewhat 
unfavorable,  you  have  produced  an  exhibition,  which, 
I  am  persuaded,  has  fully  answered  the  public  expec- 
tation. More  than  fifteen  thousand  articles,  in  almost 
every  department  of  art,  have  been  displayed  in  the 
halls.  Specimens  of  machinery  and  fabrics,  reflecting 
great  credit  on  their  inventors,  improvers,  and  manufac- 
turers, many  of  them  affording  promise  of  the  highest 
utility,  and  unitedly  bearing  a  very  satisfactory  testimo- 
ny to  the  state  of  the  arts  in  this  Country,  and  partic- 
ularly in  this  community,  have  been  submitted  to  the 
public  inspection.  The  exhibitors  have  already,  in  the 
aggregate,  been  rewarded  with  the  general  approbation 
of  the  crowds  of  our  fellow-citizens,  who  have  witnessed 
the  display.  It  will  be  the  business  of  your  committees, 
after  a  critical  examination  of  the  articles  exhibited,  to 
award  enduring  testimonials  of  merit.  But  the  best 
reward  will  be  the  consciousness  of  having  contributed 
to  the  common  stock  of  the  public  welfare,  by  the  suc- 
cessful cultivation  of  the  arts,  so  important  to  the  im- 
provement of  society  and  the  happiness  of  life. 

I  feel  gratified,  at  being  invited  to  act  as  the  organ 
of  your  Association,  in  this  general  expression  of  its 
sentiments,  on  so  interesting  an  occasion.  It  would  be 
a  pleasing  employment,  to  attempt  an  enumeration  and 
description  of  some  of  the  most  important  of  the  articles 
exhibited.  But  it  would  be  impossible  to  accomplish 
this  object,  to  any  valuable  purpose,  within  reasonable 

*  An  Address  delivered  before  the  Massachusetts  Charitable  Me- 
chanic Association,  September  20,  1837,  on  occasion  of  their  first  Ex- 
hibition and  Fair. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS.  281 

limits.  It  would  require  a  condensing  apparatus,  more 
efficient  than  any  which  has  yet  been  contrived,  to 
bring  even  a  descriptive  catalogue  of  the  articles  exhib- 
ited, within  the  compass  of  a  public  address :  to  give 
a  full  account  of  the  most  important  of  them,  would 
demand  no  small  portion  of  the  knowledge  and  skill 
required  for  their  fabrication.  The  nature  of  this  occa- 
sion prescribes  a  much  simpler  character  to  the  remarks 
I  shall  submit  to  your  indulgence.  It  will  be  my  sole 
object  to  establish,  by  a  few  obvious  illustrations,  the 
vast  importance  of  the  Mechanic  Arts.  In  pursuing 
this  end,  the  greatest  difficulty  to  be  overcome  is,  that 
the  point  to  be  established  is  too  certain,  to  be  proved, 
and  too  generally  admitted,  to  need  a  formal  assertion. 

Man,  as  a  rational  being,  is  endowed  by  his  Creator 
with  two  great  prerogatives.  One  is,  the  control  over 
matter  and  inferior  animals,  which  is  physical  power ; 
the  other,  the  control  over  kindred  mind,  which  is  moral 
power,  and  which,  in  its  lower  forms,  is  often  produced 
by  the  control  over  matter :  so  that  power  over  the  ma- 
terial world  is,  practically  speaking,  a  most  important 
element  of  power  in  the  social,  intellectual,  and  moral, 
world.  Mind,  all  the  time,  is  the  great  mover  ;  but, 
surrounded,  encased,  as  it  is,  with  matter,  acting  by  ma- 
terial organs,  treading  a  material  earth,  incorporated  and 
mingled  up  with  matter,  I  do  not  know  that  there  is 
any  thing  but  pure,  inward  thought,  which  is  not  de- 
pendent upon  it ;  and  even  the  capacity  of  the  mind 
for  pure  thought  is  essentially  affected  by  the  condition 
of  the  material  body,  and  by  external  circumstances 
acting  upon  it. 

This  control  of  mind  over  matter  is  principally  effect- 
ed through  the  medium  of  the  mechanic  arts,  taking  that 
term  in  its  widest  acceptation.  The  natural  faculties  of 
the  human  frame,  unaided  by  artificial  means,  are  cer- 
tainly great  and  wonderful  ;  but  they  sink  to  nothing, 
compared  with  the  power  which  accrues  from  the  skil- 
ful use  of  tools,  machines,  engines,  and  other  material 
24* 


282      IMPORTANCE  O"F  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS. 

agents.  Man,  with  his  unaided  strength,  can  lift  but 
one  or  two  hundred  weight,  and  that  but  for  a  moment ; 
with  his  pulleys  and  windlasses,  he  sets  an  obelisk  upon 
its  base, — a  shaft  of  solid  granite,  a  hundred  feet  high. 
The  dome  of  St.  Peter's  is  one  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  in  diameter  ;  its  sides  are  twenty-two  feet  in  thick- 
ness ;  it  is  suspended  in  the  air,  at  an  elevation  of  three 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  from  the  ground  ;  and  it  was 
raised  by  hands  as  feeble  as  these.  The  unaided  force 
of  the  muscles  of  the  human  hand  is  insufficient  to  break 
a  fragment  of  marble,  of  any  size,  in  pieces ;  but  on  a 
recent  visit  to  the  beautiful  quarries  in  Sheffield,  from 
which  the  columns  of  the  Girard  College,  at  Philadel- 
phia, are  taken,  I  saw  masses  of  hundreds  of  tons,  which 
had  been  cleft  from  the  quarry  by  a  very  simple  artifi- 
cial process.  Three  miles  an  hour,  for  any  considerable 
space  of  time,  and  with  ample  intervals  for  recreation, 
food,  and  sleep,  are  the  extreme  limit  of  the  locomotive 
capacity  of  the  strongest  frame,  and  this  confined  to 
the  land.  The  arts  step  in :  by  the  application  of  one 
portion  of  them,  to  the  purposes  of  navigation,  man  is 
wafted,  night  and  day,  waking  and  sleeping,  at  the 
rate  of  eight  or  ten  miles  an  hour,  over  the  unfathomed 
ocean ;  and,  by  the  combination  of  another  portion  of 
the  arts,  he  flies  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  an 
hour,  and,  if  need  be,  with  twice  that  rapidity,  without 
moving  a  muscle,  from  city  to  city. 

The  capacity  of  imparting  thought,  by  intelligible  signs, 
to  the  minds  of  other  men, — the  capacity  which  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  all  our  social  improvements, — while 
unaided  by  art,  was  confined  within  the  limits  of  oral 
communication  and  memory.  The  voice  of  wisdom  per- 
ished, not  merely  with  the  sage  by  whom  it  was  uttered, 
but  with  the  very  breatli  of  air  on  which  it  was  borne. 
Art  came  to  the  aid  of  the  natural  capacity  ;  and,  after  a 
long  series  of  successive  improvements,  passing  through 
the  stages  of  pictorial  and  symbolical  representations 
of  things,  the  different  steps  of  hieroglyphical  writing, 
(each  occupying,  no  doubt,  long  periods  of  time  for 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS.  283 

its  discovery  and  application,)  it  devised  a  method  of 
imprinting  on  a  material  substance  an  intelligible  sign, 
not  of  things,  but  of  sounds  forming  the  names  of 
things  ;  in  other  words,  it  invented  the  A  B  C.  With 
this  simple  invention,  and  the  mechanical  contrivances 
with  which  it  is  carried  into  effect,  the  mind  of  man 
was,  I  had  almost  said,  recreated.  The  day  before  it 
was  invented,  the  voice  of  man,  in  its  utmost  stretch, 
could  be  heard  but  by  a  few  thousands,  intently  listen- 
ing, for  an  hour  or  two,  during  which,  alone,  his  strength 
would  enable  him  to  utter  a  succession  of  sounds.  The 
day  after  the  art  of  writing  was  invented,  he  was  able  to 
stamp  his  thoughts  on  a  roll  of  parchment,  and  send  them 
to  every  city  and  hamlet  of  the  largest  empire.  The  day 
before  this  invention,  the  mind  of  one  country  was  es- 
tranged from  the  mind  of  all  other  countries.  For  al- 
most all  the  purposes  of  intercourse,  the  families  of  man 
might  as  well  not  have  belonged  to  one  race.  The  day 
after  it,  Wisdom  was  endued  with  the  gift  of  tongues, 
and  spake,  by  her  interpreters,  to  all  the  tribes  of  kin- 
dred men.  The  day  before  this  invention,  and  noth- 
ing but  a  fading  tradition,  constantly  becoming  fainter, 
could  be  preserved  by  the  memory,  of  all  that  was  spok- 
en or  acted  by  the  greatest  and  wisest  of  men.  The 
day  after  it,  Thought  was  imperishable ;  it  sprung  to 
an  earthly  immortality  ;  it  seized  the  new-found  instru- 
ments of  record  and  commemoration,  and,  deserting  the 
body,  as  it  sunk,  with  its  vocal  organs,  into  the  dust,  it 
carved,  on  the  very  gravestone,  "  The  mind  of  man 
shall  live  forever." 

It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  these  illustrations  of  the 
importance  of  the  aid,  rendered  by  the  arts  to  the  nat- 
ural faculties  of  man.  They  present  themselves  to  the 
reflecting  mind,  in  every  direction  ;  and  they  lead  the 
way  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  mechanical  arts  are 
the  great  instruments  of  human  civilization.  We  have 
some  means  of  judging  what  man  was,  before  any  of 
the  useful  arts  were  discovered,  because  there  exist,  on 
the  surface  of  the  globe,  many  tribes  and  races,  nearly 


284  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS. 

or  quite  destitute  of  them ;  as,  for  instance,  the  native 
inhabitants  of  this  continent.  We  know  not,  with  cer- 
tainty, it  is  true,  whether  these  and  other  savage  races 
are  specimens  of  humanity,  disjoined  from  the  parent 
stock,  before  great  progress  had  been  made  in  civili- 
zation, or  broken  down  and  degenerate  fragments  of 
nations  once  cultivated,  and  retaining,  even  in  their 
present  degraded  condition,  some  remnants  of  primitive 
improvement.  There  are  some  circumstances  which 
favor  the  latter  opinion,  and  consequently  they  do  not 
afford  us  a  perfect  specimen  of  what  man  would  be,  be- 
fore the  discovery  of  any  of  the  useful  arts  of  life.  But 
we  may  see  enough,  in  them,  to  learn  how  much  of  all 
our  civilization  resides  in  these  arts  ;  that,  in  fact,  civil- 
ization may  almost  be  considered  another  word  for  their 
aggregate  existence  and  application.  For  it  is  a  some- 
what humiliating  reflection,  that,  in  many  things  de- 
pendent on  the  human  organs  and  senses,  unaided  by 
the  arts,  the  savage  greatly  excels  the  most  improved 
civilized  man.  Thus  man,  with  one  set  of  glasses,  pen- 
etrates the  secret  organization  of  the  minutest  insect  or 
plant ;  marks  the  rise  of  the  sap  in  the  capillaries  of  a 
blade  of  grass  :  counts  the  pulsations  of  the  heart  in  an 
animalcule  a  hundred  times  smaller  than  the  head  of  a 
pin  ;  while,  with  another  set  of  glasses,  he  fills  the  heav- 
ens with  a  hundred  millions  of  stars,  invisible  to  the 
naked  eye.  To  the  savage,  the  wonders  of  the  micro- 
scope and  the  telescope  are  unknown;  but  he  can,  by 
traces  which  elude  our  keenest  vision,  tell  whether  it  is 
the  foot  of  friend  or  enemy,  which  has  passed  over  the 
grass  before  his  tent,  in  the  silence  of  night;  and  he 
can  find  his  way  through  the  pathless  and  tangled  for- 
est, without  a  gwide.  Civilized  man,  with  his  wheels 
and  his  steam,  runs  a  race  with  the  winds ;  but,  left  to 
the  natural  force  of  his  members,  soon  sinks,  from  fa- 
tigue. The  indefatigable  savage,  ignorant  of  artificial 
conveyance,  outtires,  on  foot,  the  hound  and  the  horse  ; 
and,  while  the  famished  child  of  civilized  life  faints,  at 
the  delay  of  his  periodical  meal,  a  three  days'  hunger 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS.  285 

makes  no  impression  on  the  iron  frame  of  the  poor  In- 
dian. Civilized  man,  although  surrounded  by  his  arts, 
with  enjoyments  that  seem  to  render  life  a  hundred 
fold  more  precious,  lies  drenched  in  sleep  one  third  of 
his  precious  hours,  and  may  well  envy  the  physical 
training,  which  enables  his  hardy  brother  of  the  forest, 
when  occasion  requires,  to  bid  defiance,  night  after 
night,  to  the  approach  of  weariness. 

But  this  superiority,  which  the  savage  possesses  over 
civilized  man,  in  the  discipline  of  some  of  the  natural 
capacities  of  our  frame,  is  turned  to  little  account  of 
human  improvement  and  happiness,  for  want  of  those 
arts  which  create,  combine,  and  perpetuate,  the  powers 
and  agents  by  which  our  wants  are  supplied.  Even 
the  few  comforts,  of  which  his  forlorn  condition  is  sus- 
ceptible, are  mostly  derived,  not  from  this  superior  train- 
ing of  his  natural  faculties  and  senses,  but  from  his  pos- 
session of  some  few  imperfect  arts.  The  savage,  needy 
at  best,  without  his  moccasins,  his  snow-shoes,  his  dres- 
sed buffalo  skin,  his  hollowed  tree  or  bark  canoe,  his 
bow  and  arrow,  his  tent,  and  his  fishing  gear,  would  be 
a  much  more  abject  being.  These  simple  inventions, 
and  the  tools  and  skill  required  by  them,  no  doubt  oc- 
cupied a  considerable  period,  in  the  early  history  of  our 
race.  But  the  great  difference,  between  savage  and 
civilized  life,  consists  in  the  want  of  those  more  im- 
proved arts,  the  products  of  which  we  have  been  con- 
templating, by  which  no  inconsiderable  quantity  of 
human  power  and  skill  can  be  transferred  to  inanimate 
tools  and  machinery,  and  perpetuated  in  them ; — the 
arts,  whereby  the  grasp  of  the  hand,  which  soon  wea- 
ics,  can  be  transferred  to  the  iron  gripe  of  the  vice,  the 
clamp,  and  the  bolt,  that  never  tire  ;  the  arts,  by  which 
stone,  and  metal,  and  leather,  and  wood,  may  be  made 
to  perform  the  offices  of  poor  flesh  and  bone.  The 
savage,  when  he  has  parched  his  corn,  puts  it  in  a  rude 
mortar,  which,  with  infinite  toil,  he  has  scooped  out  of 
a  rock,  and  laboriously  pounds  it  into  meal.  It  is  much, 
if,  in  this  way,  he  can  prepare  food  enough  to  keep  him 


286  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS. 

alive  while  he  is  preparing  it.  The  civilized  man,  when 
he  has  raised  his  corn,  builds  a  mill,  with  a  water-wheel, 
and  sets  the  indefatigable  stream  to  grinding  his  grain. 
There  are  now  two  or  three  laborers  at  work  ;  one,  it 
is  true,  with  forces  which  soon  weary,  and  which  can 
only  be  kept  up,  by  consuming  a  part  of  the  corn  as  fast 
as  it  can  be  made  into  food,  but  endowed  with  an  un- 
tiring and  inexhaustible  invention ;  the  other  patient 
fellow-laborers  of  wood  and  iron,  the  stream,  the  wheel, 
and  the  millstone,  without  capacity  for  head  work,  are 
willing  to  grind  corn,  all  day,  and  not  ask  a  mouthful 
back,  by  way  of  sustenance.  Civilization  is  kept  up,  by 
storing  the  products  of  the  labor,  thus  economized,  and 
imparting  a  share  of  it  to  those  engaged  in  some  other 
pursuit,  who  give  a  portion  of  its  products  in  exchange 
for  food. 

Take  another  illustration,  in  the  arts  employed  in 
furnishing  the  clothing  of  man.  The  savage,  when  he 
has  killed  a  buffalo  and  dried  his  skin,  prepares  it,  with 
the  manual  labor  of  several  weeks,  for  a  garment ;  a 
substantial  and  sightly  garment ;  but  it  has  taken  him 
a  long  time,  and  he  has  made  but  one.  The  civilized 
man,  having  a  world  of  business  on  his  hands,  has  con- 
trived a  variety  of  machines,  which  perform  almost  all 
the  work  required  for  his  clothing.  He  cuts  a  mass  of 
curled  wool  from  the  sheep's  back,  a  confused,  irregular 
heap  of  fibrous  threads,  which  would  seem  to  defy  the 
skill  and  industry  of  the  artificer.  How  long  will  it  not 
take  the  busiest  pair  of  fingers  to  piece  those  fibres  to- 
gether, end  to  end,  to  lay  them  side  by  side,  so  as  to 
give  them  substance,  coherence,  dimensions, — to  con- 
vert them  into  a  covering  and  defence,  excluding  cold 
and  wet !  The  savage,  in  taking  the  skin,  seems  to 
have  made  the  wiser  choice.  Nature  has  done  the  spin- 
ning and  weaving  to  his  hand.  But  wait  a  moment: 
there  is  a  group  of  iron-fingered  artificers,  in  yonder 
mill,  who  will  show  you  a  wonder.  They  will,  with 
a  rapidity  scarcely  conceivable,  convert  this  uncouth, 
fibrous  heap  into  a  uniform  mass ;  they  will  draw  out 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS.  287 

its  short,  curly  fibres  into  long,  even  threads,  lay  them 
side  by  side,  and  curiously  cross  them  over  and  under 
with  magical  dexterity,  till  they  form  a  compact  tissue, 
covered  with  a  soft  down  and  a  glossy  lustre,  smooth, 
impervious,  flexible,  in  quantity  sufficient  to  clothe  a 
family  for  a  year,  with  less  expense  of  human  labor, 
than  would  be  required  to  dress  a  single  skin. 

Consider  the  steam-engine.  It  is  computed  that  the 
steam  power  of  Great  Britain,  not  including  the  labor 
economized  by  the  enginery  it  puts  in  motion,  annually 
performs  the  work  of  a  million  of  men.  In  other  words, 
the  steam-engine  adds  to  the  human  population  of  Great 
Britain,  another  population,  one  million  strong.  Strong, 
it  may  well  be  called.  What  a  population  !  so  curiously 
organized,  that  they  need  neither  luxuries  nor  comforts, 
that  they  have  neither  vices  nor  sorrows ;  subject  to 
an  absolute  control,  without  despotism  ;  laboring  night 
and  day  for  their  owners,  without  the  crimes  and  woes 
of  slavery  ;  a  frugal  population,  that  wastes  nothing  and 
consumes  nothing,  unproductively ;  an  orderly  popula- 
tion, to  which  mobs  and  riots  are  unknown ;  among 
which,  the  peace  is  kept,  without  police,  courts,  prisons, 
or  bayonets  ;  and  annually  lavishing  the  product  of  one 
million  pairs  of  hands,  to  increase  the  comforts  of  the 
fifteen  or  twenty  millions  of  the  human  population. 
And  yet  the  steam-engine,  which  makes  this  mighty 
addition  to  the  resources  of  civilization,  is  but  a  piece 
of  machinery.  You  have  all  seen  it,  both  in  miniature 
and  on  a  working  scale,  at  the  halls.  In  the  miniature 
model,  (constructed  by  Mr.  Newcomb,  of  Salem,)  it 
can  be  moved  by  the  breath  of  the  most  delicate  pair 
of  lips  in  this  assembly ;  and  it  could  easily  be  construc- 
ted of  a  size  and  power,  which  would  rend  these  walls 
from  their  foundation,  and  pile  the  roof  in  ruins  upon 
us.  And  yet  it  is  but  a  machine.  There  is  a  cylinder 
and  a  piston  ;  there  are  tubes,  valves,  and  pumps  ;  wa- 
ter, and  a  vessel  to  boil  it  in.  This  is  the  whole  of  that 
enginery,  with  which  the  skill  and  industry  of  the  pres- 
ent age  are  working  their  wonders.  This  is  the  whole 


288  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS. 

of  the  agency  which  has  endowed  modern  art  with  its 
superhuman  capacities,  and  sent  it  out,  to  traverse  the 
continent  and  the  ocean,  with  those  capacities,  which 
Romance  has  attributed  to  her  unearthly  beings : — 

"  Tramp,  tramp,  along  the  land  they  ride, 
Splash,  splash,  across  the  sea." 

It  is  wholly  impossible  to  calculate  the  quantity  of 
labor  economized  by  all  the  machinery  which  the  steam- 
engine  puts  in  motion.  Mr.  Baines  states,  that  the 
spinning  machinery  of  Great  Britain,  tended  by  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  workmen,  "produces  as 
much  yarn  as  could  have  been  produced  by  FORTY  MIL- 
LIONS OF  MEN,  with  the  one-thread  wheel  !"*  Dr.  Buck- 
land  remarks,  that  it  has  been  supposed,  that  "  the 
amount  of  work  now  done  by  machinery,  in  England, 
is  equivalent  to  that  of  between  three  and  four  hundred 
millions  of  men,  by  direct  labor."f 

This  prodigious  economy  and  accumulation  of  power, 
effected  by  the  mechanic  arts,  are  occupied  in  supplying 
the  wants  and  promoting  the  comfort  of  man.  When, 
therefore,  the  ingenious  artisan  makes  an  improvement 
in  a  useful  machine,  he  economizes  labor,  creates  pow- 
er, accumulates  usefulness,  and  promotes  the  progress 
of  civilization.  I  doubt  not,  if  it  were  possible  to  write 
the  secret  history  of  the  mechanic  arts,  (if  I  may  so 
express  myself;)  to  trace  the  most  important  manufac- 
tures and  machines,  through  their  various  stages,  to 
their  origin  ;  to  show  how,  by  the  addition  of  a  spring 
here,  a  cog  there,  a  knee-joint  in  this  place,  a  perpetual 
screw  in  that,  or  a  system  of  these  powers,  the  most 
complicated  engines  have  been  brought,  from  the  hum- 
blest beginnings,  to  their  present  condition ; — it  would 
appear,  that  a  single  mechanical  improvement  had  often 
had  the  effect  of  adding  thousands  and  tens  of  thous- 
ands of  horse-power  and  man-power  to  the  productive 
energy  of  the  community.  The  astonishment  and  ad- 

*Baines's  History  of  the  Cotton  Manufacture,  p.  362. 
tBuckland's  Geology  and  Mineralogy,  Vol.  I.  p.  400. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS.  289 

miration  with  which  we  should  survey  the  wonders  of 
modem  machinery,  are  impaired,  by  not  knowing,  more 
generally  than  the  mass  of  men  can  know,  the  stages 
through  which  it  has  passed,  and  the  mental  efforts 
which  have  been  expended  in  improving  it.  There  is 
an  untold,  probably  an  unimagined,  amount  of  human 
talent,  of  high  mental  power,  locked  up  among  the 
wheels  and  springs  of  the  machinist ;  a  force  of  intel- 
lect of  the  loftiest  character  has  been  required,  to  make 
this  department  of  human  pursuit  what  it  is.  This 
stunning  din,  this  monotonous  rattle,  this  tremendous 
power,  and  the  quiet,  steady  force  of  these  humble, 
useful,  familiar  arts,  result  from  efforts  of  the  mind, 
kindred  with  those  which  have  charmed  or  instructed 
the  world  with  the  richest  strains  of  poetry,  eloquence, 
and  philosophy. 

These  improvements  have  sometimes  been  long  de- 
layed, and  art,  for  ages,  has  been  stationary  ;  and  then, 
by  the  happy  developement  of  some  mechanical  contri- 
vance, it  has  made  boundless  progress  in  an  age.  It 
is  not  yet,  I  believe,  more  than  two  or  three  centuries, 
since  the  only  mode  of  spinning,  known,  was  by  the 
rock  and  spindle.  The  simple  spinning-wheel,  moved 
by  the  hand,  and  which  was  thought,  in  the  times  of 
our  grandparents,  to  show  a  graceful  form  and  a  well- 
turned  arm,  to  nearly  as  great  advantage  as  a  harp,  at 
the  present  day,  and  to  make  a  music  almost  as  cheer- 
ful, is  at  once  an  obsolete  and  a  modern  invention. 
The  Greeks  and  Romans  are  said  to  have  been  unac- 
quainted with  the  spinning-wheel.  The  monarch's 
heavy  purple  and  the  nymph's  airy  tissue  were  alike 
manufactured  by  twirling  the  distaff,  and  drawing  out 
a  thread  with  the  fingers ;  and  no  improvement  was 
made  on  this  tedious  process,  in  Great  Britain,  before 
the  fifteenth  century.  It  is  evident,  that  much  more 
labor  must  have  been  requisite,  with  this  rude  machin- 
ery, to  supply  the  indispensable  article  of  clothing,  than 
with  the  modern  improvements.  The  introduction  of 
the  spinning-wheel  produced  a  great  economy  of  this 

25  E.  E. 


290  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS. 

labor ;  but  the  introduction  of  the  spinning  and  weaving 
machinery,  of  the  last  century,  has  pushed  this  econo- 
my to  an  extent,  at  which  it  is  in  vain  to  attempt  to 
calculate  it.  This  economy  operates,  first,  to  multiply 
the  comforts  of  the  existing  population,  and  then,  by 
necessary  consequence,  to  increase  the  population,  ca- 
pable of  subsisting  in  a  given  circuit.  Yes,  the  man, 
who,  in  the  infancy  of  the  arts,  invented  the  saw  or 
the  plane,  the  grindstone,  the  vice,  or  the  handmill  ; 
and  those  who,  in  later  periods,  have  contributed  to  the 
wonderful  system  of  modern  machinery  ;  are  entitled  to 
rank  high  among  the  benefactors  of  mankind,  as  the 
fathers  of  civilization,  the  creators,  I  had  almost  said, 
of  nations.  It  is  not  the  fabulous  wand  of  the  enchant- 
er, it  is  the  weaver's  beam,  and  instruments  like  it, 
which  call  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  into  being. 
Mind,  acting  through  the  useful  arts,  is  the  vital  princi- 
ple of  modern  civilized  society.  The  mechanician,  not 
the  magician,  is  now  the  master  of  life.  He  kindles 
the  fires  of  his  steam-engine,  and  the  rivers,  the  lakes, 
the  ocean,  are  covered  with  flying  vessels ;  mighty  chain- 
pumps  descend,  clanking  and  groaning,  to  the  deepest 
abysses  of  the  coal-mine,  and  rid  them  of  their  deluge 
of  waters ;  and  spindles  and  looms  ply  their  task,  as  if 
instinct  with  life.  It  is  the  necromancy  of  the  creative 
machinist.  In  a  moment,  a  happy  thought  crosses  his 
imagination,  and  an  improvement  is  conceived.  Some 
tedious  process  can  be  superseded,  by  a  chemical  ap- 
plication, as  in  the  modern  art  of  bleaching.  Some 
necessary  result  can  be  attained,  in  half  the  time,  by  a 
new  mechanical  contrivance ;  another  wheel,  a  ratchet, 
or  a  screw,  will  effect  the  object ;  he  tries  a  few  exper- 
iments ;  it  will  succeed ;  it  is  done.  He  stamps  his 
foot,  and  a  hundred  thousand  men  start  into  being ; 
not,  like  those  which  sprang  from  the  fabled  dragon's 
teeth,  armed  with  the  weapons  of  destruction,  but  fur- 
nished with  every  implement  for  the  service  and  com- 
fort of  man.  It  is  stated  by  James  Watt,  (before  whose 
time,  the  steam-engine  was  an  imperfect  and  inefficient 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS.  291 

machine,)  that  the  moment  the  notion  of  "  separate 
condensation"  struck  him,  all  the  other  details  of  his 
improved  engine  followed,  in  rapid  and  immediate  suc- 
cession, so  that,  in  the  course  of  one  or  two  days,  his  in- 
vention was  so  complete,  that  he  proceeded  to  submit 
it  to  experiment.*  Could  that  day  be  identified,  it 
would  well  deserve  an  anniversary  celebration,  by  the 
universal  tribes  of  civilized  man. 

I  have  said,  that  mind,  acting  through  the  mechanic 
arts,  is  the  vital  principle  of  modern  civilized  society. 
I  would  be  the  last  to  undervalue  the  importance  of 
moral  and  intellectual  influences,  or  to  seem  to  give 
undeserved  countenance  to  the  mechanical  tendency 
of  the  age.  On  the  contrary,  I  look  upon  the  intellec- 
tual and  moral  influence  of  the  useful  arts,  as  the  most 
important  aspect  in  which  the  subject  can  be  contem- 
plated. The  immediate  result  of  every  improvement 
in  these  arts,  as  has  been  already  stated,  often  is,  and 
always  might  and  should  be,  by  making  less  labor  and 
time  necessary  for  the  supply  of  human  wants,  to  raise 
the  standard  of  comfortable  living,  increase  the  quan- 
tity of  leisure  time  applicable  to  the  culture  of  the  mind, 
and  thus  promote  the  intellectual  and  moral  progress 
of  the  mass  of  the  community.  That  this  is  the  gener- 
al tendency  of  a  progress  in  the  useful  arts,  no  one  can 
doubt,  who  compares  the  present  condition  of  the  world 
with  its  condition  in  the  middle  ages ;  and  the  fact  is 
confirmed  by  the  history  of  single  inventions.  I  have 
already  spoken  of  alphabetical  writing.  This  single  art 
was  a  step,  absolutely  essential,  in  the  moral  and  intel- 
lectual progress  of  our  race.  To  speak  of  the  art  of 
printing,  in  its  connexion  with  morals  and  mind,  would 
be  as  superfluous,  as  it  would  be  difficult  to  do  justice 
to  the  topic.  Its  history  is  not  so  much  an  incident, 
as  the  summary  of  modern  civilization.  Vast  as  the 
influence  of  this  art  of  arts  has  been,  it  may  well  be 

*See'Pursuit  of  Knowledge  under  Difficulties,'  (in  'THE  SCHOOL 
LIBRARY,')  Vol.  II.  p.  254,  for  a  Riogrupliicnl  sketchof  Walt,  and  a 
notice  of  his  improvements  in  the  Steaui-engine. 


292      IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS. 

doubted,  whether  improvements  will  not  yet  be  made, 
in  the  mechanism  connected  with  it,  which  will  incal- 
culably increase  its  efficiency.  If  I  mistake  not,  the 
trumpet-voice  of  Truth,  from  this  machine,  is  yet  des- 
tined to  reach  to  distances  and  depths  of  society,  which 
have  hitherto  remained  unexplored  and  neglected. 

Again,  in  reference  to  the  intimate  connexion  of  the 
useful  and  mechanic  arts  with  intellectual  progress,  let 
us  but  advert,  for  a  moment,  to  the  mariner's  compass, 
the  telescope,  the  quadrant.  For  myself,  I  never  reflect 
upon  their  influence  on  the  affairs  of  man,  and  remem- 
ber that  they  are,  after  all,  merely  mechanical  contriv- 
ances, without  emotions  of  admiration,  bordering  upon 
awe.  This  sentiment,  I  know,  is  so  worn  away  by 
habit,  that  it  seems  almost  to  run  into  sentimentality. 
But  let  us  not  be  ashamed  to  reproduce  the  emotions 
that  spring  from  the  freshness  of  truth  and  Nature. 
What  must  have  been  Galileo's  feelings,  when  he 
pointed  the  first  telescope  to  the  heavens,  and  discov- 
ered the  phases  of  Venus  and  the  moons  of  Jupiter ! 
When  I  behold  the  touched  needle  trembling  to  the 
pole ;  when  I  know,  that,  beneath  the  utter  blackness 
of  the  midnight  storm,  when  every  star  in  heaven  is 
quenched,  and  the  laboring  vessel,  in  mid-ocean,  reels, 
like  a  drunken  man,  on  the  crested  top  of  the  mighty 
waves,  that  little  bar  of  steel  will  guide  the  worn  and 
staggering  helmsman  on  his  way, — I  feel  that  there  is 
a  holy  philosophy  in  the  arts  of  life,  which,  if  I  cannot 
comprehend,  I  can  reverence. 

Consider  the  influence  on  the  affairs  of  {nen,  in  all 
their  relations,  of  the  invention  of  the  little  machine 
which  I  hold  in  my  hand  ;*  and  the  other  modern  in- 
struments, for  the  measurement  of  time,  various  speci- 
mens of  which  are  on  exhibition  in  the  halls.  To  say 
nothing  of  the  importance  of  an  accurate  measurement 
of  time  in  astronomical  observations,  nothing  of  the 
application  of  timekeepers  to  the  purposes  of  naviga- 
tion, how  vast  must  be  the  aggregate  effect,  on. the  af 

*  A  watch. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS.  293 

fairs  of  life,  throughout  the  civilized  world,  and  in  the 
progress  of  ages,  of  a  convenient  and  portable  appara- 
tus for  measuring  the  lapse  of  time  !  Who  can  calcu- 
late, in  how  many  of  those  critical  junctures,  when  af- 
fairs of  weightiest  import  hang  upon  the  issue  of  an 
hour,  Prudence  and  Forecast  have  triumphed  over  blind 
Casualty,  by  being  enabled  to  measure,  with  precision, 
the  flight  of  time,  in  its  smallest  subdivisions  !  Is  it  not 
something  more  than  mere  mechanism,  which  watches 
with  us,  by  the  sick-bed  of  some  dear  friend,  through 
the  livelong  solitude  of  night,  enables  us  to  count,  in  the 
slackening  pulse,  Nature's  .trembling  steps  toward  re- 
covery, and  to  administer  the  prescribed  remedy,  at  the 
precise,  perhaps  the  critical,  moment  of  its  application  ? 
By  means  of  a  watch,  punctuality  in  all  his  duties, 
which,  in  its  perfection,  is  one  of  the  incommunica- 
ble attributes  of  Deity,  is  brought,  in  no  mean  meas- 
ure, within  the  reach  of  man.  He  is  enabled,  if  he 
will  be  guided  by  this  half-rational  machine,  creature 
of  a  day  as  he  is,  to  imitate  that  sublime  precision, 
which  leads  the  earth,  after  a  circuit  of  five  hundred 
millions  of  miles,  back  to  the  solstice  at  the  appointed 
moment,  without  the  loss  of  one  second,  no,  not  the 
millionth  part  of  a  second,  for  the  ages  on  ages  during 
which  it  has  travelled  that  empyreal  road.*  What  a 
miracle  of  art,  that  a  man  can  teach  a  few  brass  wheels, 
and  a  little  piece  of  elastic  steel,  to  out-calculate  him- 
self ;  to  give  him  a  rational  answer  to  one  of  the  most 
important  questions,  which  a  being  travelling  toward 
eternity  can  ask !  What  a  miracle,  that  a  man  can 
put,  within  this  little  machine,  a  spirit,  that  measures 
the  flight  of  time  with  greater  accuracy  than  the  unas- 
sisted intellect  of  the  profoundest  philosopher ;  which 
watches  and  moves,  when  sleep  palsies  alike,  the  hand 
of  the  maker  and  the  mind  of  the  contriver,  nay,  when 
the  last  sleep  has  come  over  them  both ! 

*  It  is  not,  of  coarse,  intended  that  the  sidereal  year  is  always  of 
precisely  the  same  length,  but  that  its  variations  are  subject  to  a  fixed 
law.  See  Sir  John  Herschel's  treatise  on  Astronomy,  §  563. 

25* 


294      IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS. 

I  saw,  the  other  day,  at  Stockbridge,  the  watch 
which  was  Worn  on  the  eighth  of  September,  1755,  by 
the  unfortunate  Baron  Dieskau,  who  received  his  mor- 
tal wound  on  that  day,  near  Lake  George,  at  the  head 
of  his  army  of  French  and  Indians,  on  the  breaking  out 
of  the  Seven  Years'  War.  This  watch,  which  marked 
the  fierce,  feverish  moments  of  the  battle,  as  calmly  as 
it  has  done  the  fourscore  years  which  have  since  elaps- 
ed, is  still  going ;  but  the  watchmaker  and  Baron  have 
now,  for  more  than  three  fourths  of  a  century,  been 
gone  where  time  is  no  longer  counted.  Frederic  the 
Great  was  another,  and  a  vastly  more  important,  per- 
sonage of  the  same  war.  His  watch  was  carried  away 
from  Potsdam  by  Napoleon,  who,  on  his  rock,  in  mid- 
ocean,  was  wont  to  ponder  on  the  hours  of  alternate 
disaster  and  triumph,  which  filled  up  the  life  of  his 
great  fellow-destroyer,  and  had  been  equally  counted 
on  its  dial-plate.  The  courtiers  used  to  say,  that  this 
watch  stopped  of*  its  own  accord,  when  Frederic  died. 
Short-sighted  adulation  !  for  if  it  stopped  at  his  death, 
as  if  time  was  no  longer  worth  measuring,  it  was 
soon  put  in  motion,  and  went  on,  as  if  nothing  had 
happened. 

Portable  watches  were  probably  introduced  into 
England,  in  the  time  of  Shakspeare  ;  and  he  puts  one 
into  the  hand  of  his  fantastic  jester,  as  the  text  of  his 
morality.  In  truth,  if  we  wished  to  borrow  from  the 
arts  a  solemn  monition  of  the  vanity  of  human  things, 
the  clock  might  well  give  it  to  us.  How  often  does 
it  occur  to  the  traveller  in  Europe,  as  he  hears  the 
hour  told  from  some  ancient  steeple,  that  iron  tongue 
in  the  tower  of  yonder  old  cathedral,  unchanged  itself, 
has  had  a  voice  for  every  change  in  the  fortune  of  na- 
tions !  It  has  chimed  monarchs  to  their  thrones,  and 
knelled  them  to  their  tombs ;  and,  from  its  watch-tow- 
er in  the  clouds,  has,  with  the  same  sonorous  and  im- 
partial stoicism,  measured  out  their  little  hour  of  sor- 
row and  gladness,  to  coronation  and  funeral,  abdication 
and  accession,  revolution  and  restoration ;  victory,  tu- 


IMPORTANCE   OF  THE  MECHANIC   ARTS.  295 

mult,  and  fire  :* — and,  with  like  faithfulness,  while  I 
speak,  the  little  monitor,  by  my  side,  warns  me  back  from 
my  digression,  and  bids  me  beware,  lest  I  devote  too 
much  of  my  brief  hour  even  to  its  own  commendation. 
Let  me  follow  the  silent  monition,  sustained,  perhaps, 
by  the  impatience  of  the  audience,  and  hasten  to  the 
last  topic  of  my  address.  The  object  of  our  present  ex- 
hibition is  not  mere  show,  however  innocent  and  grati- 
fying. It  is  to  make  the  community  better  acquainted 
with  the  state  of  the  arts,  by  a  public  display  of  their 
products  ;  to  excite  a  generous  emulation,  by  their  com- 
parison :  and  thus  to  lead  on  our  ingenious  artificers, 
improvers,  and  inventors,  to  higher  degrees  of  excel- 
lence. The  astonishing  progress  of  the  arts,  in  modern 
times,  is  a  subject  of  the  most  familiar  remark.  It  would 
require  a  volume,  even  to  enumerate  the  most  consid- 
erable improvements.  So  numerous  are  the  inventions 
and  discoveries  that  have  been  made,  in  every  depart- 
ment, and  to  such  perfection  have  many  arts  been  car- 
ried, that  we  may  perhaps  be  inclined  to  think,  that, 
in  the  arts,  as  on  the  surface  of  the  globe,  after  all  the 
brilliant  discoveries  in  navigation,  in  the  last  three  cen- 
turies, there  is  nothing  left  to  find  out.  Though  it  is 
probable,  that,  in  particular  things,  no  further  progress 
can  be  made,  (and  even  this  I  would  not  affirm,  with 
any  confidence,)  yet,  so  far  from  considering  invention 
as  exhausted,  or  art  at  a  stand,  I  believe  there  never 
was  a  moment,  when  greater  improvements  were  to  be 
expected :  and  this,  for  the  very  reason  that  so  much 
has  already  been  done ;  that  truth,  in  its  nature,  is  at 
once  boundless  and  creative ;  and  that  every  existing 
art,  invention,  and  discovery,  is  but  an  instrument  of 
further  improvement.  Even  when  any  particular  art  or 
machine  seems  to  have  reached  the  highest  attainable 
point  of  excellence,  nothing  is  more  likely,  than  that  it 

*  The  associations  here  alluded  to  have  lately  been  rendered  famil- 
iar to  the  public,  by  Mr.  S.  A.  Eliot's  spirited  translation  and  adapta- 
tion to  music,  of  Schiller's  splendid  poem  of  the  The  Bell.  The  idea 
was  originally  glanced  at,  in  one  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Montague's  Letters. 


296  IMPORTANCE   OF  THE  MECHANIC   ARTS. 

will,  by  some  wholly  unexpected  discovery  or  improve- 
ment, be  greatly  advanced ;  or  that,  by  accidental  or 
natural  association,  it  will  lead  to  some  other  very  im- 
portant improvement  in  a  branch  of  art  wholly  dissimi- 
lar ;  or,  finally,  that  it  will  be  superseded  by  something 
quite  different,  but  producing  the  same  result.  Take, 
as  an  example,  the  art  of  printing.  The  simple  process 
of  printing,  with  movable  types  and  a  press  moved  by 
hand,  does  not  seem,  in  the  lapse  of  four  hundred  years, 
to  have  undergone  any  very  material  improvement. 
The  introduction  of  solid  plates,  and  the  application  of 
artificial  power  to  the  press,  are  improvements  wholly  dis- 
connected, in  their  nature,  from  the  art  of  printing,  and 
yet  add  incalculably  to  its  efficacy  and  operative  power. 
In  a  word,  the  products  of  art  are  the  creations  of  ra- 
tional mind,  working,  with  intelligent  and  diversified 
energy,  in  a  thousand  directions ;  bounding  from  the 
material  to  the  moral  world,  and  back  from  specula- 
tion to  life ;  producing  the  most  wonderful  effects  on 
moral  and  social  relations,  by  material  means,  and  again, 
in  an  improved  political  and  moral  condition,  finding 
instruments  and  encouragement  for  new  improvements 
in  mechanical  art.  In  this  mighty  action  and  reaction, 
we  are  continually  borne  on  to  results  the  most  surpris- 
ing. Physical  and  moral  causes  and  effects  produce 
moral  and  physical  effects  and  causes,  and  every  thing 
discovered  tends  to  the  discovery  of  something,  yet 
unknown.  It  rarely,  perhaps  never,  happens,  that  any 
discovery  or  invention  is  wholly  original; — as  rarely, 
that  it  is  final.  As  some  portion  of  its  elements  lay  in 
previously  existing  ideas,  so  it  will  waken  new  concep- 
tions in  the  inventive  mind.  The  most  novel  mechan- 
ical contrivance  contains,  within  itself,  much  that  was 
known  before  ;  and  the  most  seemingly  perfect  inven- 
tion, if  we  may  judge  the  future  by  the  past,  admits  of 
further  improvements.  For  this  reason,  the  more  that 
is  known,  discovered,  and  contrived,  the  ampler  the 
materials,  out  of  which  new  discoveries,  inventions,  and 
improvements,  may  be  expected. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS.  £97 

Perfect  as  the  steam-engine  seems,  it  is  a  general 
persuasion,  that  we  are  in  the  rudiments  of  its  econom- 
ical uses.  The  prodigious  advances,  made  in  the  arts 
of  locomotion,  teach  nothing  more  clearly,  than  the 
probability,  that  they  will  be  rendered  vastly  more  effi- 
cient. The  circulation  of  ideas,  by  means  of  the  press, 
is  probably  destined  to  undergo  great  enlargement. 
Analytical  chemistry  has,  within  the  last  thirty  years, 
acquired  instruments,  which  enable  the  philosopher  to 
unlock  mysteries  of  Nature,  before  unconceived  of.  Ma- 
chinery, of  all  kinds  and  for  every  purpose,  is  daily 
simplified  and  rendered  more  efficient.  Improved  ma- 
nipulations are  introduced  into  all  the  arts,  and  each 
and  all  of  these  changes  operate  as  efficient  creative 
causes  of  further  invention  and  discovery.  Besides  all 
that  may  be  hoped  for,  by  the  diligent  and  ingenious 
use  of  the  materials  for  improvement,  afforded  by  the 
present  state  of  the  arts,  the  progress  of  science  teaches 
us  to  believe,  that  principles,  elements,  and  powers,  are 
in  existence  and  operation  around  us,  of  which  we  have 
a  very  imperfect  knowledge,  perhaps  no  knowledge, 
whatever.  Commencing  with  the  mariner's  compass, 
in  the  middle  ages,  a  series  of  discoveries  has  been  made, 
connected  with  magnetism,  electricity,  galvanism,  the 
polarity  of  light,  and  the  electro-magnetic  phenomena, 
which  are  occupying  much  attention,  at  the  present 
day,  all  of  which  are  more  or  less  applicable  to  the  use- 
ful arts,  and  which  may  well  produce  the  conviction, 
that,  if  in  some  respects  we  are  at  the  meridian,  we  are, 
in  other  respects,  in  the  dawn,  of  science.  In  short, 
all  art,  as  I  have  said,  is  a  creation  of  the  mind  of  man  ; 
an  essence  of  infinite  capacity  for  improvement.  And 
it  is  of  the  nature  of  every  intelligence,  endowed  with 
such  a  capacity,  however  mature  in  respect  to  the  past, 
to  be,  at  all  times,  in  respect  to  the  future,  in  a  state 
of  hopeful  infancy.  However  vast  the  space  measured 
behind,  the  space  before  is  immeasurable  ;  and,  though 
the  mind  may  estimate  the  progress  it  has  made,  the 


298  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS. 

boldest  stretch  of  its  powers  is  inadequate  to  measure 
the  progress  of  which  it  is  capable. 

Let  me  say,  then,  Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen  of 
the  Mechanic  Association,  PERSEVERE.  Do  any  ask 
what  you  have  done,  and  what  you  are  doing,  for  the 
public  good  ?  Send  them  to  your  exhibition  rooms,  and 
let  them  see  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  American  Lib- 
erty fitly  covered  with  the  products  of  American  Art. 
And  while  they  gaze,  with  admiration,  on  these  crea- 
tions of  the  mechanical  arts  of  the  Country,  bid  them 
remember,  that  they  are  the  productions  of  a  people, 
whose  fathers  were  told,  by  the  British  ministry,  they 
should  not  manufacture  a  hobnail !  Does  any  one  ask, 
in  disdain,  for  the  great  men  who  have  illustrated  the 
Mechanic  Arts  ?  Repeat  to  him  the  wellknown  names, 
which  will  dwell  in  the  grateful  recollections  of  poster- 
ity, when  the  titled  and  laurelled  destroyers  of  mankind 
shall  be  remembered  only  with  detestation.  Mechanics 
of  America  !  Respect  your  calling !  respect  yourselves  ! 
The  cause  of  human  improvement  has  no  firmer  or  more 
powerful  friends.  In  the  great  Temple  of  Nature,  whose 
foundation  is  the  earth,  whose  pillars  are  the  eternal 
hills,  whose  roof  is  the  starry  sky,  whose  organ-tones 
are  the  whispering  breeze  and  the  sounding  storm,  whose 
architect  is  God, — there  is  no  ministry  more  sacred  than 
that  of  the  intelligent  mechanic ! 


EDUCATION  THE  NURTURE  OF  THE  MIND.          299 


EDUCATION  THE  NURTURE  OF  THE  MIND  * 

I  TRUST,  Mr.  President,  that  I  shall  not  be  thought 
an  intruder,  in  rising  to  take  some  part  in  this  interest- 
ing debate.  It  is  made  the  duty  of  the  Board  of  Ed- 
ucation, of  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  officially  a 
member,  to  promote,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  objects 
for  which  the  Board  was  established,  by  a  participation 
in  these  meetings.  Even  if  no  such  call  of  duty  war- 
ranted me,  in  thus  presenting  myself  before  you,  at 
this  time,  I  am  persuaded  that  this  is  a  cause  in  which 
you  would  not  reject  the  services  of  a  volunteer,  how- 
ever humble. 

I  do  not  rise  however,  sir,  to  attempt  to  convey  any 
information,  on  the  great  subject  of  Education.  I  speak 
in  the  presence  of  many  practical  persons,  before  whom 
it  would  be  arrogant,  in  me,  to  attempt  to  use  the  lan- 
guage of  authority,  on  this  subject.  There  is,  howev- 
er, a  single  illustration  of  the  nature  of  education,  which 
constantly  presents  itself  to  my  mind,  and  which  I  deem 
so  important,  as  to  warrant  me  in  dwelling,  for  a  few 
moments,  upon  it,  however  obvious  and  trite  the  gen- 
eral proposition  which  I  would  endeavor  to  establish. 

The  point,  sir,  to  which  I  refer,  is  the  importance, 
of  education,  as  the  means  by  which  the  mind  of  man, 
or  rather  let  me  say,  by  which  man  himself,  consid- 
ered as  an  intellectual  and  moral  existence,  attains  his 
formation  and  growth. 

There  are  many  very  striking  truths,  which,  on  ac- 
count of  their  familiarity,  fail  to  affect  us  as  powerfully 
as  they  ought.  The  unusual  and  the  irregular  arouse 
our  attention  ;  the  habitual  passes  before  us,  surrounds 
us,  dwells  within  us,  and  we  do  not  notice  it,  do  not 

*  Sutistance  of  Remarks,  made  at  the  County  Convention  of  the 
friends  of  Education,  held  ut  Ti.-bury,  on  the  island  of  Martha's  Vine- 
yard, August  16.  1838. 


300          EDUCATION  THE  NURTURE  OF  THE  MIND. 

reflect  upon  it.  The  multitude  runs  to  gaze  at  any 
departure  from  the  laws  of  Nature,  but  casts  a  vacant 
eye  on  the  wonder  and  beauty  of  its  daily  miracles. 
How  little  are  we  affected  by  the  divine  faculty  of  vis- 
ion, by  which  the  entire  external  world  is  successively 
pictured,  as  it  were,  upon  the  everchanging  tapestry 
which  hangs  around  the  inner  chambers  of  the  soul ! 
But,  if  it  is  reported  that  an  individual  can  see  with 
the  back  of  his  head  or  the  pit  of  his  stomach,  the 
community  is  alive  at  the  tidings.  Men,  who  have 
been  blessed,  all  their  lives,  with  the  glorious  gift  of 
speech  ;  who  have  been  accustomed,  without  reflection, 
by  a  few  slight  movements  of  the  lips  and  tongue,  to 
give  a  vibration  to  the  air,  which  carries  intelligence, 
expresses  the  finest  shades  of  thought,  awakens  sympa- 
thy and  kindles  passion  in  other  minds  ;  men,  who  have 
seen  their  little  children,  they  know  not  how,  without 
books  and  without  a  teacher,  acquire  this  heavenly  en- 
dowment of  articulate  speech, — will  travel  miles,  to  be- 
hold the  performance  of  a  ventriloquist ;  and  think  they 
have  made  a  good  bargain,  when  they  have  paid  a  dol- 
lar, to  hear  him  throw  a  voice  into  a  chest  of  drawers. 
I  am  not  disposed,  sir,  to  play  the  austere  censor, 
and  to  quarrel  with  this  eager  passion  for  novelty.  It 
leads,  I  am  aware,  if  well  directed,  to  improvement. 
It  nourishes  the  spirit  of  observation.  But  I  would 
have  it  accompanied  with  the  habit  of  sober  and  thought- 
ful reflection  on  the  world  of  greater  wonders,  which 
surrounds  us,  which  we  carry  about  within  us,  in  the 
frame  of  our  being  and  the  constitution  of  our  nature. 
The  truly  wonderful  is  not  that  which  breaks  out  into 
astonishing  novelties  and  fantastic  peculiarities ;  it  is 
the  inimitable  contrivance  and  the  miraculous  propor- 
tion, resource,  and  harmony,  of  our  existence.  Imag- 
ination and  romance,  in  their  wildest  freaks,  credu- 
lity, in  its  greediest  cravings  for  excitement,  has  nev- 
er caught  at  any  thing  of  monstrous  or  fairy  creation, 
which  parallels  those  quiet  mysteries  of  our  nature, 
which  make  up  the  the  daily  round  of  life. 


EDUCATION  THE  NURTURE  OF  THE  MIND.          301 

The  most  important  of  these  mysteries  (humanly 
speaking)  is,  the  formation  and  growth  of  the  mind  of 
man,  considered  as  a  real  substantive  being ;  and  the 
point  of  view,  in  which  I  have  wished  to  present  the 
subject  of  education  to  you,  on  this  occasion,  is  that  of 
being,  in  ordinary  cases,  the  appointed  means  of  the 
formation  and  growth  of  this  invisible  and  mysterious 
substance,  which  we  call  the  mind :  that  formless  es- 
sence, which  gives  life  to  all  the  forms  of  humanity ; 
that  unseen  thing,  which,  through  the  animated  eye, 
beholds  all  the  qualities  of  external  Nature  ;  that  un- 
dying thing,  which,  with  perishable  organs,  and  failing 
limbs,  and  fainting  senses,  erects  its  perennial  monu- 
ments on  earth,  and  climbs  the  paths  of  an  immortality, 
which  shall  endure,  when  the  earth,  and  all  that  encum- 
bers and  adorns  it,  shall  pass  away.  In  a  word,  I  could 
wish,  were  it  possible  for  me  to  do  it,  to  present  to  the 
understandings  of  those  whom  I  have  the  honor  to 
address,  the  impression,  which  dwells  upon  my  own, 
of  the  nature  and  importance  of  education,  considered 
as  the  name  we  give  to  the  care  and  nourishment  of 
our  minds. 

What  labor  and  pains  are  not  bestowed  to  clothe, 
and  feed,  and  shelter,  the  body  ;  to  shield  it  from  blight 
and  disease  ;  to  rear  it  up  into  a  healthy  and  well-pro- 
portioned frame  of  vigorous  humanity  !  Now,  suppose 
it  were  possible,  (and,  to  some  extent,  it  is  possible.) 
that  it  were  even  quite  easy,  without  actually  starving  a 
human  creature  to  death,  to  keep  him  in  being,  for  the 
usual  term  of  existence,  without  that  supply  of  accus- 
tomed food,  which  is  necessary  for  health,  strength,  and 
comeliness.  Suppose  there  was  such  a  thing  as  a  com- 
munity of  men,  capable  of  subsisting  and  continuing 
their  race,  but  who,  from  poverty,  indolence,  or  the  act 
of  God  ;  for  want  of  means,  or  knowledge  to  use  them  ; 
should  pass  through  life,  without  any  developemcnt  of 
the  great  vital  powers ;  should  just  be  alive,  and  no 
more  ;  who  should,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  have 
eyes  but  see  not,  ears  but  hear  not ;  their  senses  all  tor- 
26  E.  E. 


302          EDUCATION  THE  NURTURE  OF  THE  MIND. 

pid  ;  their  limbs  feeble,  nerveless,  incapable  of  muscular 
movement ;  the  entire  system  languid,  pining,  catalep- 
tic ;  all  but  lifeless,  and  yet  alive.  What  should  we 
think  of  such  bodies,  of  such  existence,  of  such  beings  ? 
What  should  we  think  of  such  fatuity  and  madness,  if 
they  knowingly  and  designedly  reduced  themselves,  and 
kept  themselves  in  such  a  state,  living  as  they  do  on  the 
fertile  earth,  lords  of  the  subject  animals,  and  able,  if 
they  were  pleased,  to  seat  themselves,  every  day,  at  the 
bountiful  table  of  Providence,  and  receive  nourishment, 
and  health,  and 'strength,  from  its  liberal  supplies? 

Now,  sir,  I  am  coming  to  the  point,  which  I  wish  to 
illustrate  ;  and  it  is  this : — What  none  but  a  madman 
would  knowingly  do  to  his  body  ;  what  no  known  com- 
munity of  men,  raised  above  the  abjectest  level  of  sav- 
age life,  and  placed  on  a  soil  and  in  a  climate  that  yield 
a  competent  supply  of  wholesome  food,  has  ever  done 
to  the  perishing  corporeal  frame  ;  what  no  father,  in 
whose  bosom  the  last  drop  of  the  milk  of  human  kind- 
ness and  parental  love  was  not  dried  up,  would  do  to 
his  child  ; — that  is  done  and  permitted  to  be  done,  with- 
out scruple  and  without  rebuke,  to  the  immortal  intel- 
lect: and  this,  in  enlightened  lands  and  in  Christian 
communities,  composed  of  men  who  know  that  they 
have  not  only  minds  to  enlighten,  but  souls  to  save.  I 
say  the  monstrous  and  unnatural  cruelty,  never  practis- 
ed to  himself  or  another,  as  far  as  the  body  is  concern- 
•  ed,  unless  by  an  idiot  or  a  savage,  is  daily,  constantly, 
remorselessly,  practised  upon  that  which  excels  the 
body,  by  all  the  difference  between  mind  and  matter, 
spirit  and  clay,  heaven  and  earth. 

The  body  is  not  starved,  except  in  cases  of  cruel  ne- 
cessity. Not  starved  ?  it  is  nourished  and  pampered, 
by  whatever  can  provoke  or  satisfy  the  appetite ;  the 
healthy  child  is  nursed  and  nourished  up  into  the  healthy 
man  ;  the  tiny  fingers,  which  now  weary  with  the  weight 
of  the  rattle,  will  be  trained  up  to  a  grasp  of  steel ;  and 
the  little  limbs  will  learn  to  stretch,  unfatigued,  over 
plain  and  mountain,  while  the  inward  intellectual  being 


EDUCATION  THE  NURTURE  OF  THE  MIND.     303 

will  be  allowed  to  remain  unnourished,  neglected,  and 
stinted.  A  reason,  capable  of  being  nurtured  into  the 
vigorous  apprehension  of  all  truth,  will  remain  unin- 
formed and  torpid,  at  the  mercy  of  low  prejudice  and 
error ;  a  capacity,  which  might  have  explored  Nature, 
mastered  its  secrets,  and  weighed  the  orbs  of  heaven 
in  the  golden  scales  of  science,  shall  pass  through  life, 
clouded  with  superstition,  ignorant  of  the  most  familiar 
truth,  unconscious  of  its  own  heavenly  nature.  There 
is  the  body  of  a  man,  sound,  athletic,  well-proportion- 
ed ;  but  the  mind  within  is  puny,  dwarfed,  and  starv- 
ed. Could  we  perceive  it  with  our  bodily  sight,  we 
should  pity  it.  Could  the  natural  eye  measure  the  con- 
trast between  a  fully-developed  and  harmoniously-pro- 
portioned intellect,  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  blighted,  stint- 
ed, distorted,  sickly,  understanding,  on  the  other,  even 
as  it  compares  a  diseased  and  shrivelled  form  with  the 
manly  expansion  and  vigorous  developement  of  health, 
we  should  be  moved  with  compassion ;  but,  so  com- 
pletely do  we  allow  ourselves  to  be  the  slaves  of  mate- 
rial sense,  that  many  a  parent,  who  would  feel  himself 
incapable  of  depriving  a  child  of  a  single  meal,  will  let 
him  grow  up,  without  ever  approaching  the  banquet  of 
useful,  quickening  knowledge. 

I  know,  sir,  these  are  figures  of  speech.  The  mind 
does  not  grow  by  food,  nor  languish  for  the  want  of  it ; 
but  these  similitudes  are  the  only  means  we  have,  of  dis- 
coursing of  the  intellectual  nature.  I  know  not  to  what 
else  we  can  better  liken  the  strong  appetence  of  the  mind 
for  improvement,  than  to  a  hunger  and  thirst  after  know- 
ledge and  truth ;  nor  how  we  can  better  describe  the 
province  of  education,  than  to  say,  it  does  that  for  the 
intellect,  which  is  done  for  the  body,  when  it  receives  the 
care  and  nourishment  which  are  necessary  for  its  growth, 
health,  and  strength.  From  this  comparison,  I  think  I 
derive  new  views  of  the  importance  of  education.  It 
is  now  a  solemn  duty,  a  tender,  sacred  trust.  What ! 
sir,  feed  a  child's  body,  and  let  his  soul  hunger !  pam- 
per his  limbs,  and  starve  his  faculties  !  Plant  the  earth, 


304  EDUCATION  THE  NURTURE  OF  THE  MIND. 

cover  a  thousand  hills  with  your  droves  of  cattle,  pur- 
sue the  fish  to  their  hiding  places  in  the  sea,  and  spread 
out  your  wheat-fields  across  the  plain,  in  order  to  supply 
the  wants  of  that  body,  which  will  soon  be  as  cold  and  as 
senseless  as  their  poorest  clod,  and  let  the  pure  spiritu- 
al essence  within  you,  with  all  its  glorious  capacities  for 
improvement,  languish  and  pine  !  What !  build  facto- 
ries, turn  in  rivers  upon  the  water-wheels,  unchain  the 
imprisoned  spirits  of  steam,  to  weave  a  garment  for  the 
body,  and  let  the  soul  remain  unadorned  and  naked ! 
What !  send  out  your  vessels  to  the  furthest  ocean,  and 
make  battle  with  the  monsters  of  the  deep,  in  order  to 
obtain  the  means  of  lighting  up  your  dwellings  and 
workshops,  and  prolonging  the  hours  of  labor  for  the 
meat  that  perisheth,  and  permit  that  vital  spark,  which 
God  has  kindled,  which  He  has  intrusted  to  our  care  to 
be  fanned  into  a  bright  and  heavenly  flame, — permit  it, 
I  say,  to  languish  and  go  out ! 

I  am  aware,  that  I  utter  these  sentiments  before  an 
intelligent  audience  ;  in  the  hearing  of  those  who  feel 
the  importance  of  education,  and  who  have  exerted 
themselves  to  promote  it.  I  wonder  not  that  such 
should  be  the  case  with  the  inhabitants  of  this  beauti- 
ful region.  You  have  continually  before  your  eyes,  on 
your  seagirt  isle,  a  standing  memorial  of  the  importance 
of  education,  taken  in  its  most  comprehensive  sense,  in 
the  now  feeble  remnant  of  the  race  which  once  covered 
the  island  and  the  main,  and  ruled  and  roamed  over  the 
continent,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  Where 
are  all  the  powerful  and  warlike  tribes,  that  occupied 
the  territory  of  Massachusetts,  and,  under  the  guidance 
of  their  brave  and  intelligent  chieftains,  waged,  at  times, 
a  perilous,  not  to  say  a  doubtful,  war,  with  our  fathers? 
One  full  moiety  of  their  posterity  is  comprised  in  those 
poor  remains,  which  still  find  shelter  in  a  corner  of 
Martha's  Vineyard,  and  the  neighboring  islet.  Well 
may  the  civilized  man,  at  the  present  day,  inquire, 
"  What  maketh  thee  to  differ?"  Why  has  the  red  man 
failed,  and  the  white  man  waxed  strong?  Why  have 


EDUCATION  THE  NURTURE  OF  THE  MIND.          305 

we  multiplied  by  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands, 
while  they  have  disappeared  from  plain  and  hill-side? 
Why  is  their  light  canoe  no  longer  seen,  at  daybreak, 
flitting  over  the  waters?  Why  does  the  deer  no  longer 
bound  before  them,  hardly  outstripping  them,  in  the 
chase  ?  Why  are  their  dusky  forms  no  longer  seen 
gathering  at  the  falls  of  the  rivers,  at  the  season  when 
the  salmon  and  the  shad  ascend  the  streams  ?  I  know 
no  answer  to  be  given  tojthese  questions,  but  that  which 
is  suggested  by  the  train  of  reflection  which  I  have  sub- 
mitted to  you.  In  most  of  the  capacities  and  powers 
of  the  physical  man,  they  not  only  equalled,  but  excel- 
led, the  European  race.  The  Indian  was  trained  to 
uncommon  bodily  hardihood ;  to  an  eye  of  fire  and  a 
frame  of  iron.  In  physical  vigor  and  endurance,  he 
was  an  overmatch  for  his  palefaced  rival.  But 

"  His  soul  proud  Science  never  taught  to  stray 
Far  as  the  solar  walk  or  milky  way." 

His  mind  was  untutored,  ignorant  of  Nature,  ignorant 
of  himself.  He  wanted  the  arts,  and  especially  the  Art 
of  Arts,  which  gives  an  image  to  thought  and  a  record 
to  knowledge.  He  wanted  an  alphabetical  character, 
by  which  he  could  receive  and  transmit  the  accumulated 
treasures  of  scien9e  ;  and  by  which  the  discoveries  and 
attainments  of  every  man  and  of  every  age,  are  made 
the  common  property  of  every  other  man  in  every  other 
period  of  time. 

This  the  natives  of  the  continent  wanted  ;  and,  want- 
ing this,  their  physical  endowments  were  of  no  avail. 
Nature,  in  her  terrors  and  smiles,  was  the  same  to  them 
as  to  us  ;  but  they  could  not  interpret  either.  The  same 
sun  rose  upon  them,  as  upon  us.  But  to  them,  it  was  a 
ball  of  fire,  rolling  through  the  sky,  and  sinking  in  the 
sea  ;  while  to  us,  it  is  a  glorious  luminary,  the  source  of 
light  and  motion  to  the  system  of  worlds,  of  which  it  is 
the  head,  whose  places  and  motions,  observed  by  the  eye 
of  Science,  serve  as  guides  to  direct  the  vessels  of  the 
white  man  across  the  widest  sea.  The  parent  earth 
contained  the  same  deposits  and  stores,  for  them,  as  for 
26* 


306    EDUCATION  THE  NURTURE  OF  THE  MIND. 

• 

us ;  but  they  were  untaught  to  bring  cultivation  in  aid 
of  its  productive  qualities  ;  untaught  to  melt  the  plough- 
share and  the  axe  from  its  solid  rocks'.  They  needed, 
for  their  preservation,  not  walls  and  bulwarks,  but  the 
elements  of  useful  knowledge ;  and  had  Massasoit  or 
King  Philip,  and  their  tribes,  possessed  those  means 
and  instruments  of  improvement,  which  are  in  the 
hands  of  your  children  at  school,  I  know  not  why  they 
might  not  have  perpetuated  their  national  existence,  and 
borrowed  the  improvements  of  our  civilization,  without 
sinking  under  the  superiority  of  our  arts  and  arms.  If 
Providence  has  been  pleased  to  write  the  chapter  of 
their  destiny  in  other  and  darker  characters,  let  us,  at 
least,  (while  we  do  all  in  our  power  to  alleviate  their 
condition,)  cherish  and  respect  those  means  of  improve- 
ment, to  which  we  owe  our  happier  lot. 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.     307 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL, 
CREDIT.* 

IN  compliance  with  your  request,  gentlemen,  I  ap- 
pear before  you,  this  evening,  to  take  a  part  in  the  ob- 
servance of  the  eighteenth  anniversary  of  the  Mercan- 
tile Library  Association.  This  meritorious  Institution 
was  founded  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  mental  im- 
provement, among  the  young  men  of  the  city  engaged 
in  commercial  pursuits.  Its  objects  were,  to  form  a 
library,  well  furnished  with  books  best  adapted  to  their 
use  ;  to  lay  the  foundation  of  scientific  collections  ;  to 
make  occasional  or  stated  provision  for  courses  of  in- 
structive lectures ;  and  to  furnish  opportunity  for  exer 
cises  in  literary  composition  and  debate.  It  would  be 
superfluous,  to  offer  any  labored  commendation  of  an 
institution  of  this  description.  It  needs  only  to  be 
named,  in  a  commercial  community,  to  be  regarded 
with  favor.  It  has  already  been  approved  by  its  good 
fruits,  in  the  experience  of  many  who  have  enjoyed  its 
advantages  ;  and  has  received  the  most  favorable  notice 
from  distinguished  gentlemen,  who,  on  former  anniver- 
saries, have  performed  the  duty  which,  on  the  present 
occasion,  has  devolved  upon  me. 

Supposing,  then,  that  the  usefulness  of  such  an  insti- 
tution is  a  point  too  well  established,  to  need  illustra- 
tion, I  have  thought  we  should  pass  our  time  more 
profitably,  this  evening,  by  devoting  our  attention  to 
the  discussion  of  a  few  of  the  elementary  topics  con- 
nected with  commerce,  in  reference  to  which  there 
are  some  prevailing  errors,  and  on  which  it  is  impor- 
tant to  form  correct  judgements.  These  topics  are, 
accumulation,  property,  capital,  and  credit ;  the  simple 
enunciation  of  which,  as  the  heads  of  my  address,  will 

*  An  Address,  delivered  before  the  Mercantile  Library  Association, 
at  the  Odeon,  in  Boston,  September  13,  1838. 


308     ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT. 

satisfy  this  most  respectable  audience  that,  without 
aiming  at  display,  it  is  my  object  to  assist  those  before 
whom  I  have  the  honor  to  appear,  in  forming  right  no- 
tions on  important  practical  questions.  I  may  also 
add,  that  the  views  presented  in  a  single  discourse,  on 
topics  so  extensive  and  important,  must  necessarily  be 
of  the  most  general  character. 

I.  Some  attempts  have  been  made,  of  late  years,  to 
institute  a  comparison  between  what  have  been  called 
the  producing  and  the  accumulating  classes,  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  the  latter.  This  view  I  regard  as  en- 
tirely erroneous.  Accumulation  is  as  necessary  to  fur- 
ther production,  as  production  is  to  accumulation  ;  and 
especially  is  accumulation  the  basis  of  commerce.  If 
every  man  produced,  from  day  to  day,  just  so  much  as 
was  needed  for  the  day's  consumption,  there  would,  of 
course,  be  nothing  to  exchange ;  in  other  words,  there 
would  be  no  commerce.  Such  a  state  of  things  im- 
plies the  absence  of  all  civilization.  Some  degree  of 
accumulation  was  the  dictate  of  the  earliest  necessity  ; 
the  instinctive  struggle  of  man,  to  protect  himself  from 
the  elements  and  from  want.  He  soon  found, — such 
is  the  exuberance  of  Nature,  such  the  activity  of  her 
productive  powers,  and  such  the  rapid  developement 
of  human  skill, — that  a  vast  deal  more  might  be  accu- 
mulated, than  was  needed  for  bare  subsistence. 

This,  however,  alone,  did  not  create  commerce.  If 
all  men  accumulated  equally,  and  accumulated  the 
same  things,  there  would  still  be  no  exchanges.  But 
it  soon  appeared,  in  the  progress  of  social  man,  that  no 
two  individuals  had  precisely  the  same  tastes,  powers, 
and  skill.  One  excelled  in  one  pursuit ;  one,  in  anoth- 
er. One  was  more  expert  as  a  huntsman  ;  another,  as  a 
•fisherman  ;  and  all  found,  that,  by  making  a  business 
of  some  one  occupation,  they  attained  a  higher  degree 
of  excellence,  than  was  practicable,  while  each  one  en- 
deavored to  do  every  thing  for  himself.  With  this  dis- 
covery, commerce  began.  The  Indian,  who  has  made 
two  bows,  or  dressed  two  bear-skins,  exchanges  one  of 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.  309 

them  for  a  bundle  of  dried  fish,  or  a  pair  of  snow-shoes. 
These  exchanges,  between  individuals,  extend  to  com- 
munities. The  tribes  on  the  seashore  exchange  the 
products  of  their  fishing,  for  the  game  or  the  horses  of 
the  plains  and  hills.  Each  barters  what  it  has  in  ex- 
cess, for  that  which  it  cannot  itself  so  well  produce 
and  which  its  neighbors  possess  in  abundance.  As  in- 
dividuals differ  in  their  capacities,  countries  differ  in 
soil  and  climate ;  and  this  difference  leads  to  infinite 
variety  of  fabrics  and  productions,  artificial  and  natural. 
Commerce  perceives  this  diversity,  and  organizes  a 
boundless  system  of  exchanges,  the  object  of  which  is, 
to  supply  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  want  and  de- 
sire, and  to  effect  the  widest  possible  diffusion  of  useful 
and  convenient  products.  The  extent  to  which  this  ex- 
change of  products  is  carried,  in  highly-civilized  coun- 
tries, is  truly  wonderful.  There  are  probably  few  indi- 
viduals, in  this  assembly,  who  took  their  morning's  meal, 
this  day,  without  the  use  of  articles  brought  from  almost 
every  part  of  the  world.  The  table,  on  which  it  was  serv- 
ed, may  have  been  made  from  a  tree  which  grew  on  the 
Spanish  Main  or  one  of  the  West-India  islands,  and  cov- 
ered with  a  tablecloth  from  St.  Petersburg  or  Archangel. 
The  tea  was  from  China ;  the  coffee  perhaps  from  Java ; 
the  sugar  from  Cuba  or  Louisiana ;  the  spoons  from 
Mexico,  Peru,  or  Chili ;  the  cups  and  saucers  from 
England  or*  France.  Each  of  these  articles  was  pur- 
chased by  an  exchange  of  other  products,  the  growth  of 
our  own  or  foreign  countries,  collected  and  distributed 
by  a  succession  of  voyages,  often  to  the  furthest  corners 
of  the  globe.  Without  cultivating  a  rood  of  ground,  we 
taste  the  richest  fruits  of  every  soil.  Without  stirring 
from  our  fireside,  we  collect  on  our  tables  the  growth  of 
every  region.  In  the  midst  of  Winter,  we  are  served 
with  fruits  that  ripened  in  a  tropical  sun  ;  and  strug- 
gling monsters  are  dragged  from  the  depths  of  the  Pa- 
cific ocean,  to  lighten  our  dwellings. 

As  all  commerce   rests   upon   accumulation,  so  the 
accumulation  of  every  individual  is  made  by  the  ex- 


310    ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT. 

changes  of  commerce  to  benefit  every  other.  Until  he 
exchanges  it,  it  is  of  no  actual  value  to  him.  The  tiller 
of  a  hundred  fields  can  eat  no  more,  the  proprietor  of 
a  cloth  factory  can  wear  no  more,  and  the  owner  of  a 
coal  mine  can  sit  by  no  hotter  a  fire,  than  his  neighbors. 
He  must  exchange  his  grain,  his  cloth,  and  his  coal, 
for  some  articles  of  their  production,  or  for  money, 
which  is  the  representative  of  all  other  articles,  before 
his  accumulation  is  of  service  to  him.  The  system  is 
one  of  mutual  accommodation.  No  man  can  promote 
his  own  interest,  without  promoting  that  of  others.  As, 
in  the  system  of  the  universe,  every  particle  of  matter  is 
attracted  by  every  other  particle,  and  it  is  not  possible 
that  a  mote  in  a  sunbeam  should  be  displaced,  without 
producing  an  effect  on  the  orbit  of  Saturn,  so  the  mi- 
nutest excess  or  defect,  in  the  supply  of  any  one  arti- 
cle of  human  want,  produces  a  proportionate  effect  on 
the  exchanges  of  all  other  articles.  In  this  way,  that 
Providence,  which  educes  the  harmonious  system  of  the 
heavens  out  of  the  adjusted  motions  and  balanced  mas- 
ses of  its  shining  orbs,  with  equal  benevolence  and  care 
furnishes  to  the  countless  millions  of  the  human  family, 
through  an  interminable  succession  of  exchanges,  the 
supply  of  their  diversified  and  innumerable  wants. 

II.  In  order  to  carry  on  this  system  of  exchanges, 
it  is  necessary,  that  the  articles  accumulated  should  be 
safe  in  the  hands  of  their  owners.  The  laws  of  society, 
for  the  protection  of  property,  were  founded  upon  the 
early  and  instinctive  observation  of  this  truth.  It  was 
perceived,  in  the  dawn  of  civilization,  that  the  only 
way  in  which  man  could  elevate  himself  from  barbar- 
ism, and  maintain  his  elevation,  was,  by  being  secured 
in  the  possession  of  that  which  he  had  saved  from  daily 
consumption  ;  this  being  his  resource  for  a  time  of 
sickness,  for  old  age,  and  for  the  wants  of  those  depen- 
dent upon  him  ;  as  well  as  the  fund,  out  of  which,  by 
a  system  of  mutually  beneficial  exchanges,  each  could 
contribute  to  the  supply  of  the  wants  of  his  fellow-men. 
To  strike  at  the  principle  which  protects  his  earnings 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.  311 

or  his  acquisitions;  to  destroy  the  assurance,  that  the 
field,  which  he  has  enclosed  and  planted  in  his  youth, 
will  remain  for  the  support  of  his  advanced  years,  that 
the  portion  of  its  fruits,  which  he  does  not  need  for 
immediate  consumption,  will  remain  a  safe  deposit,  un- 
der the  protection  of  the  public  peace ;  is  to  destroy 
the  lifespring  of  civilization.  The  philosophy,  that  de- 
nounces accumulation,  is  the  philosophy  of  barbarism. 
It  places  man  below  the  condition  of  most  of  the  na- 
tive tribes  on  this  continent.  No  man  will  voluntarily 
sow,  that  another  may  reap.  You  may  place  a  man  in 
a  paradise  of  plenty,  on  this  condition ;  but  its  abun- 
dance will  ripen  and  decay,  unheeded.  At  this  mo- 
ment, the  fairest  regions  of  the  earth, — Sicily,  Turkey, 
Africa,  the  loveliest  and  most  fertile  portions  of  the 
East,  the  regions  that,  in  ancient  times,  after  feeding 
their  own  numerous  and  mighty  cities,  nourished  Rome 
and  her  armies, — are  occupied  by  oppressed  and  needy 
races,  whom  all  the  smiles  of  heaven  and  the  bounties 
of  the  earth  cannot  tempt  to  strike  a  spade  into  the 
soil,  further  than  is  requisite  for  a  scanty  supply  of 
necessary  food.  On  the  contrary,  establish  the  prin- 
ciple, that  property  is  safe,  that  a  man  is  secure  in  the 
possession  of  his  accumulated  earnings,  and  he  creates 
a  paradise  on  a  barren  heath  ;  Alpine  solitudes  echo  to 
the  lowing  of  his  herds ;  he  builds  up  his  dikes  against 
•the  ocean,  and  cultivates  a  field  beneath  the  level  of 
its  waves  ;•  and  exposes  his  life,  fearlessly,  in  sickly  jun- 
gles, and  among  ferocious  savages.  Establish  the  prin- 
ciple, that  his  property  is  his  own,  and  he  seems  almost 
willing  to  sport  with  its  safety.  He  will  trust  it  all  in 
a  single  vessel,  and  stand  calmly  by,  while  she  unmoors 
for  a  voyage  of  circumnavigation  around  the  globe. 
He  knows  that  the  sovereignty  of  his  country  accompa- 
nies it  with  a  sort  of  earthly  omnipresence,  and  guards 
it  as  vigilantly,  on  the  loneliest  island  of  the  Antarctic 
sea,  as  though  it  were  locked  in  his  coffers,  at  home. 
He  is  not  afraid  to  send  it  out  upon  the  common  path- 
way of  the  ocean,  for  he  knows,  that  the  sheltering 


312     ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,   CREDIT. 

wings  of  the  law  of  nations  will  overshadow  it  there. 
He  sleeps  quietly,  though  all  that  he  has  is  borne  upon 
six  inches  of  plank  on  the  bosom  of  the  unfathomed 
waters ;  for,  even  if  the  tempest  should  bury  it  in  the 
deep,  he  has  assured  himself  against  ruin,  by  the  agen- 
cy of  those  institutions,  which  modern  civilization  has 
devised  for  the  purpose  of  averaging  the  losses  of  indi- 
viduals upon  the  mass. 

III.  It  is  usual  to  give  the  name  of  capital  to  those 
accumulations  of  property,  which  are  employed  in 
carrying  on  the  commercial  as  well  as  the  other  busi- 
ness operations  of  the  community.  The  remarks  al- 
ready made  will  enable  us  to  judge,  in  some  degree, 
of  the  reasonableness  of  those  prejudices  which  are  oc- 
casionally awakened,  at  the  sound  of  this  word.  Capi- 
tal is  property,  which  a  man  has  acquired  by  his  indus- 
try, or  has,  under  the  law  of  the  land,  become  possessed 
of  in  some  other  way ;  and  which  is  invested  by  him, 
in  that  form,  and  employed  in  that  manner,  which  best 
suit  his  education,  ability,  and  taste.  No  particular 
amount  of  property  constitutes  capital.  In  a  highly- 
prosperous  community,  the  capital  of  one  man,  like 
the  late  Baron  Rothschild,  at  London,  or  of  Stephen 
Girard,  at  Philadelphia,  may  amount  to  eight  or  ten 
millions ;  the  capital  of  his  neighbor  may  not  exceed 
as  many  dollars.  In  fact,  the  last  of  these  two  extra- 
ordinary men,  and  the  father  of  the  first,  passed  from 
one  extreme  to  the  other,  in  this  scale  of  prosperity ; 
and  the  same  law  which  protected  their  little  pittance, 
at  the  outset,  protected  the  millions  amassed  by  their 
perseverance,  industry,  and  talent. 

Considering  capital  as  the  mainspring  of  the  business 
operations  of  civilized  society, — as  that,  which,  diffused 
in  proportionate  masses,  is  the  material  on  which  enter- 
prise works,  and  with  which  industry  performs  its  won- 
ders, equally  and  in  the  same  way  necessary,  for  the 
construction  of  a  row-boat  and  an  Indiaman,  a  pair  of 
shoes  and  a  rail-road, — I  have  been  at  some  loss  to  ac- 
count for  the  odium  which,  at  times,  has  been  attempt- 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.     313 

ed  to  be  cast  on  capitalists,  as  a  class ;  and  particularly 
for  the  contrast  in  which  capital  has  been  placed  with 
labor,  to  the  advantageous  employment  of  which  it  is 
absolutely  essential. 

I  have  supposed,  that  some  part  of  this  prejudice 
may  arise  from  the  traditions  of  other  times,  and  the 
institutions  of  other  countries.  The  roots  of  opinion 
run  deep  into  the  past.  The  great  mass  of  property 
in  Europe,  at  the  present  day,  even  in  England,  is 
landed  property.  This  property  was  much  of  it  wrest- 
ed from  its  original  owners,  by  the  ancestors  of  its  pres- 
ent possessors,  who  overran  the  countries  with  military 
violence,  and  despoiled  the  inhabitants  of  their  posses- 
sions ;  or,  still  worse,  compelled  them  to  labor,  as  slaves, 
on  the  land  which  they  had  once  owned  and  tilled,  as 
free  men.  It  is  impossible,  that  an  hereditary  bitter- 
ness should  not  have  sprung  out  of  this  relation,  never 
to  be  mitigated,  particularly  where  the  political  institu- 
tions of  society  remain  upon  a  feudal  basis.  We  know, 
from  history,  that,  after  the  Norman  invasion,  the  Saxon 
peasantry,  reduced  to  slavery,  were  compelled  to  wear 
iron  collars  about  their  necks,  like  dogs,  with  the  names 
of  their  masters  inscribed  upon  them.  At  what  subse- 
quent period,  from  that  time  to  this,  has  any  thing  oc- 
curred, to  alleviate  the  feelings  growing  out  of  these 
events  ?  Such  an  origin  of  the  great  mass  of  the  prop- 
erty must  place  its  proprietors  in  some  such  relation  to 
the  rest  of  the  community  as  that,  which  exists  be- 
tween the  Turks  and  Rayas,  in  the  Ottoman  empire, 
and  may  have  contributed  to  produce  an  hereditary 
hostility,  on  the  part  of  the  poor,  toward  the  rich, 
among  thousands  who  know  not  historically  the  origin 
of  the  feeling. 

It  is  obvious,  that  the  origin  of  our  political  commu- 
nities, and  the  organization  of  society  among  us,  fur- 
nish no  basis  for  a  prejudice,  of  this  kind,  against  capi- 
tal. Wealth,  in  this  Country,  may  be  traced  back  to 
industry  and  frugality ;  the  paths  which  lead  to  it  are 
open  to  all;  the  laws  which  protect  it  are  equal  to 

27  E.  E. 


314     ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT 

all ;  and  such  is  the  joint  operation  of  the  law  and 
the  customs  of  society,  that  the  wheel  of  fortune  is  in 
constant  revolution,  and  the  poor,  in  one  generation, 
furnish  the  rich  of  the  next.  The  rich  man,  who 
treats  poverty  with  arrogance  and  contempt,  tramples 
upon  the  ashes  of  his  father  or  his  grandfather ;  the 
poor  man,  who  nourishes  feelings  of  unkindness  and 
bitterness  against  wealth,  makes  war  with  the  pros- 
pects of  his  children,  and  the  order  of  things  in  which 
he  lives. 

A  moment's  consideration  will  show  the  unreasona- 
bleness of  a  prejudice  against  capital ;  for  it  will  show 
that  it  is  the  great  instrument  of  the  business  move- 
ments of  society.  Without  it,  there  can  be  no  exer- 
cise, on  a  large  scale,  of  the  mechanic  arts,  no  manu- 
factures, no  private  improvements,  no  public  enterprises 
of  utility,  no  domestic  exchanges,  no  foreign  commerce. 
For  all  these  purposes,  a  twofold  use  of  capital  is  need- 
ed. It  is  necessary,  that  a  great  many  persons  should 
have  a  portion  of  capital ;  as,  for  instance,  that  the 
fisherman  should  have  his  boat ;  the  husbandman,  his 
farm,  his  buildings,  his  implements  of  husbandry,  and 
his  cattle ;  the  mechanic,  his  shop  and  his  tools ;  the 
merchant,  his  stock  in  trade.  But  these  small  masses 
of  capital  are  not,  alone,  sufficient  for  the  highest  de- 
gree of  prosperity.  Larger  accumulations  are  wanted, 
to  keep  the  smaller  capitals  in  steady  movement,  and 
to  circulate  their  products.  If  manufactures  are  to 
flourish,  a  very  great  outlay  in  buildings,  fixtures, 
machinery,  and  power,  is  necessary.  If  internal  in- 
tercourse is  to  diffuse  its  inestimable  moral,  social,  and 
economical,  blessings  through  the  land,  canals,  rail-roads, 
and  steam-boats,  are  to  be  constructed,  at  vast  expense. 
To  effect  these  objects,  capital  must  go  forth,  like  a 
mighty  genius,  bidding  the  mountains  to  bow  their 
heads,  and  the  valleys  to  rise,  the  crooked  places  to 
be  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain.  If  agricul- 
ture is  to  be  perfected,  costly  experiments  in  husband- 
ry must  be  instituted,  by  those  who  are  able  to  ad- 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.     315 

vance,  and  can  afford  to  lose,  the  funds,  which  are 
required  for  the  purpose.  Commerce,  on  a  large  scale, 
cannot  flourish,  without  resources  adequate  to  the  con- 
struction of  large  vessels,  and  their  outfit  for  long  voy- 
ages and  the  exchange  of  valuable  cargoes. 

The  eyes  of  the  civilized  world  are  intently  fixed 
upon  the  experiments,  now  making,  to  navigate  the 
Atlantic  by  steam.  It  is  said,  that  the  Great  Western 
was  built  and  fitted  out  at  an  expense  of  near  half  a 
million  of  dollars.  The  success  of  the  experiment  will 
be  not  more  a  triumph  of  genius  and  of  art,  than  of 
capital.  The  first  attempts  at  the  whale-fishery,  in 
Massachusetts,  were  made  from  the  South  Shore  and 
the  island  of  Nantucket,  by  persons  who  went  out  in 
small  boats,  killed  their  whale,  and  returned,  the  same 
day.  This  limited  plan  of  operations  was  suitable  for 
the  small  demands  of  the  infant  population  of  New 
England.  But  the  whales  were  soon  driven  from  the 
coast ;  the  population  increased ;  and  the  demand  for 
the  product  of  the  fisheries  proportionably  augmented. 
It  became  necessary  to  apply  larger  capitals  to  the  busi- 
ness. Whale-ships  were  now  fitted  out,  at  considera- 
ble expense,  which  pursued  this  adventurous  occupation 
from  Greenland  to  Brazil.  The  enterprise,  thus  mani- 
fested, awoke  the  admiration  of  Europe,  and  is  immor- 
talized in  the  wellknown  description  by  Burke.  But 
the  business  has  grown,  until  the  ancient  fishing- 
grounds  have  become  the  first  stations,  on  a  modern 
whaling  voyage  ;  and  capitals  are  now  required,  suffi- 
cient to  fit  out  a  vessel  for  an  absence  of  forty  months, 
and  a  voyage  of  circumnavigation.  Fifty  thousand 
dollars  are  invested  in  a  single  vessel ;  she  doubles 
Cape  Horn,  ranges  from  New  South  Shetland  to  the 
coasts  of  Japan,  cruises  in  unexplored  latitudes,  stops, 
for  refreshment,  at  islands  before  undiscovered,  and,  on 
the  basis,  perhaps,  of  the  capital  of  an  individual  house, 
in  New  Bedford,  or  Nantucket,  performs  an  exploit, 
which,  sixty  or  seventy  years  ago,  was  thought  a  great 
object  to  be  effected  by  the  resources  of  the  British 


316     ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL.  CREDIT. 

government.  In  this  branch  of  business,  a  capital  of 
twelve  or  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  is  invested.*  Its 
object  is,  to  furnish  us  a  cheap  and  commodious  light, 
for  our  Winter  evenings.  The  capitalist,  it  is  true, 
desires  an  adequate  interest  on  his  investment ;  but 
he  can  only  get  this,  by  selling  his  oil  at  a  price,  at 
which  the  public  are  able  and  willing  to  buy  it.  The 
"overgrown  capitalist,"  employed  in  this  business,  is 
an  overgrown  lamplighter.  Before  he  can  pocket  his 
six  per  cent.,  he  has  trimmed  the  lamp  of  the  cottager, 
who  borrows  an  hour  from  evening,  to  complete  her 
day's  labor,  and  has  lighted  the  taper  of  the  pale  and 
thought-worn  student,  who  is  "  outwatching  the  bear," 
over  some  ancient  volume. 

In  like  manner,  the  other  great  investments  of  capital, 
whatever  selfish  objects  their  proprietors  may  have,  must, 
before  that  object  can  be  attained,  have  been  the  means 
of  supplying  the  demand  of  the  people  for  some  great 
article  of  necessity,  convenience,  or  indulgence.  This 
remark  applies  peculiarly  to  manufactures  carried  on  by 
machinery.  A  great  capital  is  invested  in  this  form, 
though  mostly  in  small  amounts.  Its  owners,  no  doubt, 
seek  a  profitable  return  ;  but  this  they  can  attain  in  no 
other  way,  than  by  furnishing  the  community  with  a 
manufactured  article  of  great  and  extensive  use.  Strike 
out  of  being  the  capital  invested  in  manufactures,  and 
you  lay  upon  society  the  burden  of  doing,  by  hand,  all 
the  work  which  was  done  by  steam  and  water,  by  fire 
and  steel ;  or  it  must  forego  the  use  of  the  articles  man- 
ufactured. Each  result  would,  in  some  measure,  be 
produced.  A  much  smaller  quantity  of  manufactured 
articles  would  be  consumed,  that  is,  the  community 
would  be  deprived  of  comforts  they  now  enjoy ;  and 
those  used  would  be  produced  at  greater  cost,  by  man- 

*  A  writer,  who  appears  to  understand  the  suhject  thoroughly,  in  an 
article  in  the  North  American  Review,  for  January,  1834,  calculates, 
that  a  capital  of  twelve  millions  of  dollars  is  employed  in  carrying  on 
the  whale  fishery,  and  that  an  amount  of  seventy  millions  of  dollars  is 
directly  or  remotely  involved  in  it. 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.     317 

ual  labor.  In  other  words,  fewer  people  would  be  sus- 
tained, and  those  less  comfortably,  and  at  greater  ex- 
pense. 

When  we  hear  persons  condemning  accumulations 
of  capital,  employed  in  manufactures,  we  cannot  help 
saying  to  ourselves,  is  it  possible  that  any  rational  man 
can  desire  to  stop  those  busy  wheels,  to  paralyze  those 
iron  arms,  to  arrest  that  falling  stream  which  works 
while  it  babbles  ?  What  is  your  object  ?  Do  you  wish 
wholly  to  deprive  society  of  the  fruit  of  the  industry  of 
these  inanimate  but  untiring  laborers  ?  Or,  do  you  wish 
to  lay  on  aching  human  shoulders  the  burdens,  which 
are  so  lightly  borne  by  these  patient  metallic  giants  ?* 
Look  at  Lowell.  Behold  the  palaces  of  her  industry, 
side  by  side  with  her  churches  and  her  schoolhouses, 
the  long  lines  of  her  shops  and  warehouses,  her  streets 
filled  with  the  comfortable  abodes  of  an  enterprising, 
industrious,  and  intelligent,  population.  See  her  fiery 
Samsons,  roaring  along  her  rail-road,  with  thirty  laden 
cars  in  their  train.  Look  at  her  watery  Goliaths,  not 
wielding  a  weaver's  beam,  like  him  of  old,  but  giving 
motion  to  hundreds  and  thousands  of  spindles  and 
looms.  Twenty  years  ago,  and  two  or  three  poor  farms 
occupied  the  entire  space  within  the  boundaries  of 
Lowell.  Not  more  visibly,  I  had  almost  said  not  more 
rapidly,  was  the  palace  of  Aladdin,  in  the  Arabian  tales, 
constructed  by  the  Genius  of  the  Lamp,  than  this  noble 
city  of  the  arts,  has  been  built  by  the  genius  of  capital. 
This  capital,  it  is  true,  seeks  a  moderate  interest  on  the 
investment ;  but  it  is  by  furnishing,  to  all  who  desire 
it,  the  cheapest  garment  ever  worn  by  civilized  man. 
To  denounce  the  capital  which  has  been  the  agent  of 
this  wonderful  and  beneficent  creation  ;  to  wage  war 
with  a  system  which  has  spread  and  is  spreading  plen- 
ty throughout  the  Country, — what  is  it,  but  to  play,  in 

*  At  the  time  this  Address  was  delivered,  I  was  unacquainted  with 
the  little  work  entitled  'John  Hopkins'*  Notions  on  Political  Fconomy,* 
where  the  same  comparison  of  inuchiucs  to  giants  is  very  ingeniously 
pursued. 

27* 


318     ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT. 

real  life,  the  part  of  the  malignant  sorcerer,  in  the  same 
Eastern  tale,  who,  potent  only  for  mischief,  utters  the 
baleful  spell  which  breaks  the  charm,  heaves  the  mighty 
pillars  of  the  palace  from  their  foundation,  converts  the 
fruitful  gardens  back  to  their  native  sterility,  and  heaps 
the  abodes  of  life  and  happiness  with  silent  and  deso- 
late ruins  ? 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  realize  the  effects  on  human 
comfort  of  the  application  of  capital  to  the  arts  of  life. 
We  can  fully  do  this,  only  by  making  some  inquiry  into 
the  mode  of  living  in  civilized  countries,  in  the  middle 
ages.  The  following  brief  notices,  from  Mr.  Hallam's 
learned  and  judicious  work,*  may  give  us  some  distinct 
ideas  on  the  subject.  Up  to  the  time  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, in  England,  the  houses  of  the  farmers  in  that  Coun- 
try consisted  of  but  one  story  and  one  room.  They 
had  no  chimneys.  The  fire  was  kindled  on  a  hearth 
of  clay,  in  the  centre,  and  the  smoke  found  its  way  out 
through  an  aperture  in  the  roof,  at  the  door,  and  the 
openings  at  the  side  for  air  and  light.  The  domestic 
animals, — even  oxen, — were  received  under  the  same 
roof  with  their  owners.  Glass  windows  were  unknown, 
except  in  a  few  lordly  mansions,  and  in  them  they  were 
regarded  as  movable  furniture.  When  the  dukes  of 
Northumberland  left  Alnwick  castle,  to  come  to  London, 
for  the  Winter,  the  few  glass  windows,  which  formed 
one  of  the  luxuries  of  the  castle,  were  carefully  taken  out, 
and  laid  away,  perhaps  carried  to  London,  to  adorn  the 
city  residence.  The  walls  of  good  houses  were  neither 
wainscoated  nor  plastered.  In  the  houses  of  the  nobil- 
ity, the  nakedness  of  the  walls  was  covered  by  hangings 
of  coarse  cloth.  Beds  were  a  rare  luxury.  A  very 
wealthy  individual  would  have  one  or  two  in  his  house  ; 
rugs  and  skins  laid  upon  the  floor  were  the  substitute. 
Neither  books  nor  pictures  formed  any  part  of  the  fur- 
niture of  a  dwelling,  in  the  middle  ages ;  as  printing 
and  engraving  were  wholly  unknown,  and  painting  but 

*  State  of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages. 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.  319 

little  practised.  A  few  inventories  of  furniture,  dating 
from  the  fifteenth  century,  are  preserved.  They  af- 
ford a  striking  evidence  of  the  want  of  comfort  and 
accommodation  in  articles  accounted  by  us  among  the 
necessaries  of  life.  In  the  schedule  of  the  furniture  of 
a  Signer  Contarini,  a  rich  Venetian  merchant,  living  in 
London,  in  1481,  no  chairs  nor  looking-glasses  are  nam- 
ed. Carpets  were  unknown,  at  the  same  period  :  their 
place  was  supplied  by  straw  and  rushes,  even  in  the 
presence-chamber  of  the  Sovereign.  Skipton  castle, 
the  principal  residence  of  the  earls  of  Cumberland,  was 
deemed  amply  provided,  in  having  eight  beds,  but  had 
neither  chairs,  glasses,  nor  carpets.  The  silver-plate 
of  Mr.  Fermor,  a  wealthy  country  gentleman,  at  Eas- 
ton,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  consisted  of  sixteen  spoons, 
and  a  few  goblets  and  ale-pots.  Some  valuations  of 
stock-in-trade,  in  England,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  have  been  preserved.  A  carpen- 
ter's consisted  of  five  tools,  the  whole  valued  at  a  shil- 
ling ;  a  tanner's,  on  the  other  hand,  amounted  to  near 
ten  pounds,  ten  times  greater  than  any  other ;  tanners 
being,  at  that  period,  principal  tradesmen,  as  almost  all 
articles  of  dress  for  men  were  made  of  leather. 

We  need  but  contrast  the  state  of  things,  in  our  own 
time,  with  that  which  is  indicated  in  these  facts,  to  per- 
ceive the  all-important  influence,  on  human  comfort,  of 
the  accumulation  of  capital,  and  its  employment  in  the 
useful  arts  of  life.  As  it  is  out  of  the  question,  for  the 
government  to  invest  the  public  funds  in  the  branches 
of  industry,  necessary  to  supply  the  customary  wants 
of  men,  it  follows,  that  this  must  be  done  by  private 
resources  and  enterprise.  The  necessary  consequence 
is,  that  the  large  capital,  required  for  these  operations, 
must  be  furnished  by  the  contributions  of  individuals, 
each  possessing  a  portion  of  the  stock,  or  by  a  single 
proprietor. 

However  furnished,  it  is  plain  that  the  interest  of  the 
capitalist  is  identical  with  that  of  the  community.    No 
body  hoards  ;  every  thing  is  invested  or  employed,  and 


320     ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT. 

directly  or  indirectly,  is  the  basis  of  business  opera- 
tions. 

It  is  true,  that  when  one  man  uses  the  capital  of 
another,  lie  is  expected  to  pay  something  for  this  privi- 
lege. But  there  is  nothing  unjust  or  unreasonable  in 
this.  It  is  inherent  in  the  idea  of  property.  It  would 
not  be  property,  if  I  could  take  it  from  you,  and  use  it 
as  my  own,  without  compensation.  That  simple  word, 
it  is  mine,  carries  with  it  the  whole  theory  of  property 
and  its  rights.  If  my  neighbor  has  saved  his  earnings, 
and  built  him  a  house,  and  I  ask  his  leave  to  go  and 
live  in  it,  I  ought,  in  justice,  to  pay  him  for  the  use  of 
his  house.  If,  instead  of  using  his  money  to  build  a 
house,  in  which  he  permits  me  to  live,  he  loans  me  his 
money,  with  which  I  build  a  house  for  myself,  it  is 
equally  just  that  I  should  pay  him  for  the  use  of  his 
money.  It  is  his,  not  mine.  If  he  allows  me  to  use  the 
fruit  of  his  labor  or  skill,  f  ought  to  pay  him  for  that  use, 
as  I  should  pay  him,  if  he  came  and  wrought  for  me  with 
his  hands.  This  is  the  whole  doctrine  of  interest.  In 
a  prosperous  community,  capital  can  be  made  to  pro- 
duce a  greater  return  than  the  rate  of  interest  fixed  by 
law.  The  merchant,  who  employs  the  whole  of  his 
capital  in  his  own  enterprises,  and  takes  all  the  profit  to 
himself,  is  commonly  regarded  as  a  useful  citizen  ;  and 
it  would  seem  unreasonable,  to  look  with  a  prejudiced 
eye  upon  the  capitalist,  who  allows  all  the  profits  of  the 
business  to  accrue  to  others,  asking  only  legal  interest 
for  his  money  which  they  have  employed. 

Without,  however,  pursuing  this  comparison  among 
different  classes  of  capitalists,  let  us  further  endeavor, 
by  an  example,  to  illustrate  the  question,  whether  they 
ought,  in  any  view,  to  be  regarded  as  exerting  an  un- 
friendly influence  on  the  labors  of  the  community. 
Take,  for  instance,  such  a  case  as  Mr.  Stephen  Girard, 
a  great  capitalist,  who  united  in  his  person  the  merchant 
and  the  banker,  and  who  may  be  spoken  of  plainly,  as 
he  has  passed  away,  the  solitary  man,  and  left  no  one 
to  be  grieved  with  the  freedoms  which  are  taken  with 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.     321 

his  memory.  This  remarkable  person  began  life,  with- 
out a  farthing,  and  left  behind  him  a  property,  whose 
actual  value  amounted  to  seven  or  eight  millions  of  dol- 
lars, and  this  acquired  in  the  latter  half  of  his  life.  He 
told  me,  himself,  that,  at  the  age  of  forty,  his  circum- 
stances were  so  narrow,  that  he  was  employed  as  the 
commander  of  his  own  sloop,  engaged  in  the  coasting 
trade  between  New  York  or  Philadelphia  and  New  Or- 
leans ;  adding,  that,  on  a  certain  occasion,  he  was  forty- 
five  days  in  working  his  way  up  from  the  Balize  to 
the  city.  Few  persons,  I  believe,  enjoyed  less  personal 
popularity  in  the  community  in  which  he  lived,  and  to 
which  he  bequeathed  his  princely  fortune.  If  this  pro- 
ceeded from  defects  of  personal  character,  it  is  a  topic 
which  we  have  no  occasion  to  discuss  here.  We  are 
authorized  only  to  speak  of  the  effect,  upon  the  public 
welfare,  of  the  accumulation  of  such  a  fortune  in  one 
man's  hands.  While  I  am  far  from  saying  that  it  might 
not  have  been  abused,  by  being  made  the  instrument 
of  a  corrupt  and  dangerous  influence  in  the  community, 
I  have  never  heard  that  it  was  so  abused,  by  Mr.  Gi- 
rard  ;  and,  on  general  principles,  it  may  perhaps  be 
safely  said,  that  the  class  of  men  qualified  to  amass 
large  fortunes,  by  perseverance  and  exclusive  devotion 
to  business,  by  frugality  and  thrift,  are  not  at  all  likely 
to  apply  their  wealth  to  ambitious  or  corrupt  designs. 
As  to  the  effect,  in  all  other  points  of  view,  I  confess  I 
see  nothing  but  public  benefit  in  such  a  capital,  man- 
aged with  unrelaxing  economy ;  one  half  judiciously 
employed  by  the  proprietor  himself,  in  commerce ;  the 
other  half  loaned  to  the  business  community.  What 
better  use  could  have  been  made  of  it  ?  Will  it  be  said, 
divide  it  equally  among  the  community  ;  give  each  in- 
dividual in  the  United  States  a  share  ?  It  would  have 
amounted  to  half  a  dollar,  each,  for  man,  woman,  and 
child  ;  and,  of  course,  might  as  well  have  been  sunk  in 
the  middle  of  the  sea.  Such  a  distribution  would  have 
been  another  name  for  annihilation.  How  many  ships 
would  have  furled  their  sails,  how  many  warehouses 


322     ACCUMULATION',   PROPERTY,   CAPITAL,   CREDIT. 

•       • 

would  have  closed  their  shutters,  how  many  wheels, 
heavily  laden  with  the  products  of  industry,  would  have 
stood  still,  how  many  families  would  have  been  reduced 
to  want,  and  without  any  advantage  resulting  from  the 
distribution ! 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  I  regard  equality  of 
condition  and  fortune  as  the  happiest  state  of  society, 
and  those  political  institutions  as  immeasurably  the 
wisest  and  best,  which  tend  to  produce  it.  All  laws, 
which  have  for  their  object  to  perpetuate  large  estates, 
and  transmit  them  from  generation  to  generation,  are 
at  war  with  the  constitution  of  man.  Providence  has 
written  a  statute  of  distributions  on  the  face  of  Nature 
and  the  heart  of  man  ;  and,  whenever  its  provisions  are 
contravened  by  political  enactments,  a  righteous  con- 
spiracy to  subvert  them  springs  up  in  the  very  elements 
of  our  being.  My  proposition  is  only,  that,  in  a  coun- 
try like  this,  where  the  laws  forbid  hereditary  transmis- 
sion, and  encourage  equality  of  fortune,  accumulations 
of  capital  made  by  industry,  enterprise,  and  prudence, 
employed  in  active  investments,  without  ministering  to 
extravagance  and  luxury,  are  beneficial  to  the  public. 
Their  possessor  becomes,  whether  he  wills  it  or  not, 
the  steward  of  others;  not  merely,  as  in  Mr.  Girard's 
case,  because  he  may  destine  a  colossal  fortune,  after 
his  decease,  for  public  objects,  but  because,  while  he 
lives,  every  dollar  of  it  must  be  employed  in  giving  life 
to  industry  and  employment  to  labor.  Had  Mr.  Girard 
lived  in  a  fashionable  part  of  the  city,  in  a  magnificent 
house  ;  had  he  surrounded  himself  with  a  troop  of  liv- 
eried domestics ;  had  he  dazzled  the  passers-by  with 
his  splendid  equipages,  and  spread  a  sumptuous  table 
for  his  "  dear  five  hundred  friends,"  he  would,  no  doubt, 
have  been  a  more  popular  man.  But,  in  my  apprehen- 
sion, he  appears  to  far  greater  advantage,  as  a  citizen 
and  a  patriot,  in  his  modest  dwelling  and  plain  garb, 
appropriating  to  his  personal  wants  the  smallest  pit- 
tance from  his  princely  income  ;  living,  to  the  last,  in 
the  dark  and  narrow  street  in  which  he  made  his  for- 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.  323 

tune,  and,  when  he  died,  bequeathing  it  for  the  educa- 
tion of  orphan  children.  For  the  public,  I  do  not  know 
that  he  could  have  done  better ;  of  all  the  men  in  the 
world,  he  probably  derived  the  least  enjoyment  from 
his  property,  himself. 

IV.  I  have  left  myself  scarce  any  room  to  speak  on 
the  subject  of  credit.  The  legitimate  province  of  cred- 
it is,  to  facilitate  and  to  diffuse  the  use  of  capital,  and 
not  to  create  it.  I  make  this  remark  with  care  ;  be- 
cause views  prevail  on  this  subject,  exaggerated  and 
even  false,  which,  carried  into  the  banking  system,  have 
done  infinite  mischief.  I  have  no  wish,  whatever,  to 
depreciate  the  importance  of  credit.  It  has  done  won- 
ders for  this  Country.  It  has  promoted  public  and  pri- 
vate prosperity  ;  built  cities,  cleared  wildernesses,  and 
bound  the  remotest  parts  of  the  continent  together,  by 
chains  of  iron  and  gold.  These  are  wonders,  but  not 
miracles;  these  effects  have  been  produced,  not  with- 
out causes.  Trust  and  confidence  are  not  gold  and 
silver  ;  they  command  capital,  but  they  do  not  create 
it.  A  merchant,  in  active  business,  has  a  capital  of 
twenty  thousand  dollars ;  his  credit  is  good  ;  he  bor- 
rows as  much  more;  but  let  him  not  think  he  has 
doubled  his  capital.  He  has  done  so  only  in  a  very 
limited  sense.  He  doubles  the  sum  on  which,  for  a 
time,  he  trades ;  but  he  has  to  pay  back  the  borrowed 
capital,  with  interest ;  and  that,  whether  his  business 
has  been  prosperous  or  adverse.  Still,  I  am  not  dis- 
posed to  deny,  that,  with  extreme  prudence  and  good 
management,  the  benefit  to  the  individual,  of  such  an 
application  of  credit,  is  great ;  and  when  individuals 
are  benefited,  the  public  is  benefited.  But  no  capital 
has  been  created.  Nothing  has  been  added  to  the  pre- 
existing stock.  It  was  in  being,  the  fruit  of  former  ac- 
cumulation. If  he  had  not  borrowed  it,  it  might  have 
been  used,  by  its  owner,  in  some  other  way.  What 
the  public  gains  is,  the  superior  activity  that  is  given 
to  business,  by  bringing  more  persons,  with  a  greater 
amount  and  variety  of  talent,  into  action. 


324      ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT. 

These  benefits,  public  and  private,  are  not  without 
some  counterbalancing  risks  ;  and,  with  the  enterpris- 
ing habits  and  ardent  temperament  of  our  country- 
men, I  should  deem  the  formation  of  sound  and  sober 
views,  on  the  subject  of  credit,  one  of  the  most  desira- 
ble portions  of  the  young  merchant's  education.  The 
eagerness  to  accumulate  wealth,  by  trading  on  credit, 
is  the  disease  of  the  age  and  Country  in  which  we  live. 
Something  of  the  solidity  of  our  character  and  purity 
of  our  name  has  been  sacrificed  to  it.  Let  us  hope 
that  the  recent  embarrassments  of  the  commercial  world 
will  have  a  salutary  influence  in  repressing  this  eager- 
ness. The  merchants  of  the  Country  have  covered 
themselves  with  lasting  honor,  abroad,  by  the  heroic 
fidelity  with  which  they  have,  at  vast  sacrifices,  fulfilled 
their  obligations.  Let  us  hope  that,  hereafter,  they 
will  keep  themselves  more  beyond  the  reach  of  the  fluc- 
tuations in  business,  and  the  vicissitudes  of  affairs. 

But  it  is  time  to  close  these  general  reflections.  We 
live  at  a  period,  when  the  commerce  of  the  world  seems 
touching  a  new  era  ;  a  developament  of  energies  before 
unconceived.  Columbus  discovered  a  new  continent ; 
modern  art  has  diminished,  by  one«half,  its  distance 
from  the  old  world.  The  application  of  steam  to  the 
navigation  of  the  ocean  seems  about  to  put  the  finish- 
ing hand  to  that  system  of  accelerated  communication, 
which  began  with  steam-boats  along  the  coast,  and  ca- 
nals and  rail-roads  piercing  the  interior.  The  immedi- 
ate effect  of  this  improvement  must  be,  a  vast  increase 
of  the  intensity  of  international  communication.  The 
ultimate  result  can  be  but  dimly  foreseen.  Let  us  trust 
that  it  will  give  renewed  vigor  to  the  march  of  civiliza- 
tion ;  that  it  will  increase  the  comforts  of  those  who 
now  enjoy  its  blessings,  and  extend  these  blessings  to 
the  forlorn  children  of  the  human  family,  who  are,  at 
present,  deprived  of  them. 

Whatever  may  take  place,  in  this  respect ;  whether 
Or  not  the  navigation  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  by  steam- 
vesselsj  is  to  be  generally  adopted,  as  the  mode  of  com- 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.     325 

munication  ;  commerce,  no  doubt,  in  virtue  of  other 
causes,  of  ascertained  and  unquestioned  operation,  is 
on  the  eve  of  acquiring  an  activity,  beyond  all  previous 
example.  As,  in  all  former  ages,  it  has  been  one  of  the 
most  powerful  agents,  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  the 
human  race,  it  is  unquestionably  reserved  for  still  high- 
er functions.  I  confess,  that  I  look,  myself,  for  some 
great  results,  to  be  produced  by  the  new  forces  in  mo- 
tion around  us.  When  we  contemplate  the  past,  we 
see  some  of  the  most  important  phenomena  in  human 
history,  intimately,  I  had  almost  said  mysteriously,  con- 
nected with  commerce.  In  the  very  dawn  of  civiliza- 
tion, the  art  of  alphabetical  writing  sprang  up  among 
a  commercial  people.  One  can  almost  imagine  that 
these  wonderfully  convenient  elements  were  a  kind  of 
shorthand,  which  the  Phoenician  merchants,  under  the 
spur  of  necessity,  contrived,  for  keeping  their  accounts  ; 
for  what  could  they  have  done  with  the  hieroglyphics 
of  the  Egyptian  priesthood,  applied  to  the  practical  pur- 
poses of  a  commerce  which  extended  over  the  known 
world,  and  of  which  we  have  preserved  to  us  such  a 
curious  and  instructive  description,  by  the  Prophet  Eze- 
kiel  ?*  A  thousand  years  later,  and  the  same  commer- 
cial race,  among  whom  this  sublime  invention  had  its 
origin,  performed  a  not  less  glorious  part,  as  the  cham- 
pions of  freedom.  When  the  Macedonian  madmanf 
commenced  his  crusade  against  Asia,  the  Phoenicians 
opposed  the  only  vigorous  resistance  to  his  march. 
The  Tyrian  merchants  delayed  him  longer,  beneath 
the  walls  of  their  seagirt  city,  than  Darius,  at  the  head 
of  all  the  armies  of  the  East.  In  the  succeeding  cen- 
turies, when  the  dynasties,  established  by  Alexander, 
were  crumbling,  and  the  Romans,  in  turn,  took  up  the 
march  of  universal  conquest  and  dominion,  the  com- 
mercial city  of  Carthage,  the  daughter  of  Tyre,  afford- 
ed the  most  efficient  check  to  their  progress.  But  there 

*  Chapter  xxvii. 

t  Alexander  the  Great. 

28  E.  E. 


326     ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT. 

was  nowhere  sufficient  security  of  property,  in  the  Old 
World,  to  form  the  basis  of  a  permanent  commercial 
prosperity.  In  the  middle  ages,  the  iron  yoke  of  the 
feudal  system  was  broken  by  commerce.  The  eman- 
cipation of  Europe,  from  the  detestable  sway  of  the 
barons,  began  with  the  privileges  granted  to  the  cities. 
The  wealth,  acquired  in  commerce,  afforded  the  first 
counterpoise  to  that  of  the  feudal  chiefs  who  monopo- 
lized the  land,  and,  in  the  space  of  a  century  and  a  half, 
gave  birth  to  a  new  civilization.  In  the  west  of  Europe, 
the  Hanse  towns ;  in  the  east,  the  cities  of  Venice,  Ge- 
noa, the  ports  of  Sicily  and  Naples,  Florence,  Pisa,  and 
Leghorn  ;  begin  to  swarm  with  active  crowds.  The 
Mediterranean,  deserted  for  nearly  ten  centuries,  is  cov- 
ered with  vessels.  Merchants  from  the  Adriatic  explore 
the  furthest  East :  silks,  spices,  gums,  gold,  are  distri- 
buted from  the  Italian  cities  through  Europe ;  and  the 
dawn  of  a  general  revival  breaks  on  the  world.  Nature, 
at  this  juncture,  discloses  another  of  those  mighty  mys- 
teries, which  man  is  permitted,  from  age  to  age,  to  read 
in  her  awful  volume.  As  the  fulness  of  time  approach- 
es for  the  new  world  to  be  found,  it  is  discovered  that 
a  piece  of  steel  may  be  so  prepared,  {Jiat  it  will  point, 
a  steady  index,  to  the  pole.  After  it  had  led  the  ad- 
venturers of  Italy,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  to  the  utmost 
limits  of  the  old  world,  from  Iceland  to  the  south  of 
Africa,  the  immortal  Discoverer,*  with  the  snows  and 
the  sorrows  of  near  sixty  years  upon  his  head,  but  with 
the  fire  of  immortal  youth  in  his  heart,  placed  himself 
under  the  guidance  of  the  mysterious  pilot,  bravely  fol- 
lowed its  mute  direction  through  the  terrors  and  the 
dangers  of  the  unknown  sea,  and  called  a  new  hemis- 
phere into  being. 

It  would  be  easy  to  connect  with  this  discovery,  al- 
most all  the  great  events  of  modern  history,  and,  still 
more,  all  the  great  movements  of  modern  civilization. 
Even  in  the  colonization  of  New  England,  although, 
more  than  almost  any  other  human  enterprise,  the  off- 

*  Columbus. 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.    327 

spring  of  the  religious  feeling,  commercial  adventure 
opened  the  way  and  furnished  the  means.  As  time 
rolled  on,  and  events  hastened  to  their  consummation, 
commercial  relations  suggested  the  chief  topics  in  the 
great  controversy  for  liberty.  The  British  Navigation 
Act  was  the  original  foundation  of  the  Colonial  griev- 
ances. There  was  a  constant  struggle  to  break  away 
from  the  limits  of  the  monopoly,  imposed  by  the  mother 
country.  The  American  navigators  could  find  no  walls 
nor  barriers  on  the  face  of  the  deep,  and  they  were  de- 
termined that  paper  and  parchment  should  not  shut  up 
what  God  had  thrown  open.  The  moment  the  War 
of  Independence  was  over,  the  commercial  enterprise 
of  the  Country  went  forth,  like  an  uncaged  eagle,  who, 
having  beaten  himself,  almost  to  madness,  against  the 
bars  of  his  prison,  rushes  out,  at  length,  to  his  native 
element,  and  exults,  as  he  bathes  his  undazzled  eye  in 
the  sunbeam,  or  pillows  his  breast  upon  the  storm.  Our 
merchants  were  far  from  contenting  themselves  with 
treading  obsequiously  in  the  footsteps  even  of  the  great 
commercial  nation  from  which  we  are  descended.  Ten 
years  had  not  elapsed,  from  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  before  the  infant  commerce  of  America 
had  struck  out  for  herself  a  circuit,  in  some  respects 
broader  and  bolder  than  that  of  England.  Besides  pen- 
etrating the  remotest  haunts  of  the  commerce,  hereto- 
fore carried  on  by  the  trading  nations  of  Europe, — the 
recesses  of  the  Mediterranean,  the  Baltic,  and  the  White, 
seas, — she  displayed  the  Stars  and  the  Stripes  in  distant 
Oceans,  where  the  Lion  and  the  Lilies  never  floated. 
She  not  only  engaged  with  spirit  in  the  trade  with  Hin- 
dostan  and  China,  which  had  been  thought  to  be  beyond 
the  grasp  of  individual  capital  and  enterprise,  but  she 
explored  new  markets,  on  islands  and  coasts  before  un- 
approached  by  modern  commerce. 

Such  was  the  instantaneous  expansion  of  the  youth 
ful  commerce  of  America.     The  belligerent  condition 
of  Europe,  for  a  time,  favored  the  enterprise  of  our 
merchants ;  wealth  began  to  pour  into  their  coffers ;  and 


328  ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT. 

they  immediately  took  that  place  in  the  community,  to 
which  events  and  the  condition  of  the  Country  called 
them.  Independence  found  us,  in  a  great  measure, 
destitute  of  public  establishments  ;  the  eyes  of  the  peo- 
ple were  unconsciously  turned  to  the  merchants,  as  the 
chief  depositaries  of  large  masses  of  disposable  wealth  ; 
and  they  promptly  stood  forth,  as  public  benefactors. 
It  may  certainly  be  said,  without  adulation,  that  the 
merchants  of  Massachusetts  have  sustained  this  charac- 
ter as  honorably,  as  their  fellow-citizens  in  any  part  of 
the  Union.  In  all  the  great  enterprises  for  public  im- 
provement, in  all  our  establishments  for  religious,  moral, 
literary,  and  charitable,  purposes,  the  genial  patronage 
of  commerce  has  been  steadily  felt.  Our  merchants 
have,  indeed,  been  princes,  in  the  pure  and  only  repub- 
lican sense  of  the  word,  in  bestowing  princely  endow- 
ments on  the  public  institutions  ;  and  to  him,  who  asks 
for  the  monuments  of  their  liberality,  we  may  say,  as 
of  the  architect  of  St.  Paul's,  "  Look  around  you."  In 
every  part  of  the  Old  World,  except  England,  the  pub- 
lic establishments,  the  foundations  for  charity,  educa- 
tion, and  literary  improvement,  have  been  mostly  en- 
dowed by  the  Sovereign  ;  and  costly  private  edifices 
are  generally  the  monuments  of  an  opulence,  which  had 
its  origin  in  feudal  inequality.  If  displays  of  wealth  are 
witnessed  in  our  cities,  it  is  wealth  originally  obtained 
by  frugality  and  enterprise,  and  of  which  a  handsome 
share  has  been  appropriated  to  the  endowment  of  those 
charitable  and  philanthropic  institutions,  which  are  the 
distinguishing  glory  of  modern  times. 

To  understand  the  character  of  the  commerce  of  our 
own  city,  we  must  not  look  merely  at  one  point,  but  at 
the  whole  circuit  of  country,  of  which  it  is  the  business 
centre.  We  must  not  contemplate  it.  only  at  this  pres- 
ent moment  of  time,  but  we  must  bring  before  our 
imaginations,  as  in  the  shifting  scenes  of  a  diorama,  at 
least  three  successive  historical  and  topographical  pic- 
tures ;  and  truly  instructive  I  think  it  would  be,  to  see 
them  delineated  on  canvass.  We  must  survey  the  first 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.     329 

of  them  in  the  company  of  the  venerable  John  Win- 
throp,  the  founder  of  the  State.  Let  us  go  up  with 
him,  on  the  day  of  his  landing,  the  seventeenth  of  June, 
1630,  to  the  heights  of  yonder  peninsula,  as  yet  with- 
out a  name.  Landward,  stretches  a  dismal  forest ;  sea- 
ward, a  waste  of  waters,  unspotted  with  a  sail,  except 
that  of  his  own  ship.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill,  you  see 
the  cabins  of  Walford  and  the  Spragues,  who,  the  lat- 
ter a  year  before,  the  former  still  earlier,  had  adven- 
tured to  this  spot,  untenanted,  else,  by  any  child  of  civ- 
ilization. On  the  other  side  of  the  river,  lies  Mr.  Black- 
stone's  farm.  It  comprises  three  goodly  hills,  convert- 
ed, by  a  springtide,  into  three  wood-crowned  islets ; 
and  it  is  mainly  valued  for  a  noble  spring  of  fresh 
water,  which  gushes  from  the  northern  slope  of  one  of 
these  hilFs,  and  which  furnished,  in  the  course  of  the 
Summer,  the  motive  for  transferring  the  seat  of  the  in- 
fant settlement.  This  shall  be  the  first  picture. 

The  second  shall  be  contemplated  from  the  same 
spot,  the  heights  of  Charlestown,  on  the  same  day,  the 
eventful  seventeenth  of  June,  one  hundred  and  forty- 
five  years  later,  namely,  in  the  year  1775.  A  terrific 
scene  of  war  rages  on  the  top  of  the  hill.  Wait  for  a 
favorable  moment,  when  the  volumes  of  fiery  smoke 
roll  away,  and  over  the  masts  of  that  sixty-gun  ship, 
whose  batteries  are  blazing  upon  the  hill,  you  behold 
Mr.  Blackstone's  farm  changed  to  an  ill-built  town,  of 
about  two  thousand  dwellinghouses,  mostly  of  wood, 
with  scarce  any  public  buildings  but  eight  or  nine 
churches,  the  old  State  House,  and  Faneuil  Hall ;  Rox- 
bury,  beyond,  an  insignificant  village  ;  a  vacant  marsh, 
in  all  the  space  now  occupied  by  Cambridgeport  and 
East  Cambridge,  by  Chelsea  and  East  Boston  ;  and  be- 
neath your  feet,  the  town  of  Charlestown,  consisting, 
in  the  morning,  of  a  line  of  about  three  hundred  houses, 
wrapped  in  a  sheet  of  flames  at  noon,  and  reduced,  at 
eventide,  to  a  heap  of  ashes. 

But  those  fires  are  kindled  on  the  altar  of  liberty. 
American  Independence  is  established.  American  com- 
28* 


330     ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,   CAPITAL,   CREDIT. 

merce  smiles  on  the  spot ;  and  now,  from  the  top  of 
one  of  the  triple  hills  of  Mr.  Blackstone's  farm,  a  stately 
edifice  arises,  which  seems  to  invite  us,  as  to  an  obser- 
vatory. As  we  look  down  from  this  lofty  structure, 
we  behold  the  third  picture :  a  crowded,  busy  scene. 
We  see,  beneath  us,  a  city,  containing  eighty  or  ninety 
thousand  inhabitants,  and  mainly  built  of  brick  and 
granite.  Vessels,  of  every  description,  are  moored  at 
the  wharfs.  Long  lines  of  commodious  and  even  state- 
ly houses  cover  a  space  which,  within  the  memory  of 
man,  was  in  a  state  of  nature.  Substantial  blocks  of 
warehouses  have  forced  their  way  to  the  channel.  Fa- 
neuil  Hall  itself,  the  consecrated  and  unchangeable, 
has  swelled  to  twice  its  original  dimensions.  Athe- 
nasums,  hospitals,  asylums,  and  infirmaries,  adorn  the 
streets.  The  schoolhouse  rears  its  modest  front,  in 
every  quarter  of  the  city,  and  sixty  or  seventy  churches 
attest  that  the  children  are  content  to  walk  in  the  good 
old  ways  of  their  fathers.  Connected  with  the  city,  by 
eight  bridges,  avenues,  or  ferries,  you  behold  a  range 
of  towns,  most  of  them  municipally  distinct,  but  all  of 
them,  in  reality,  forming,  with  Boston,  one  vast  metrop- 
olis, animated  by  one  commercial  life.  Shading  off 
from  these,  you  see  that  most  lovely  back-ground,  a 
succession  of  happy  settlements,  spotted  with  villas, 
farmhouses  and  cottages  ;  united  to  Boston  by  a  con- 
stant intercourse ;  sustaining  the  capital,  from  their 
fields  and  gardens,  and  prosperous  in  the  reflux  of  the 
city's  wealth.  Of  the  social  life  included  within  this 
circuit,  and  of  all  that  in  times  past  has  adorned  and 
ennobled  it,  commercial  industry  has  been  an  active  el- 
ement, and  has  exalted  itself  by  its  intimate  association 
with  every  thing  else  we  hold  dear. 

Within  this  circuit,  what  memorials  strike  the  eye ; 
what  recollections ;  what  institutions ;  what  patriotic 
treasures,  and  names  that  cannot  die  !  There,  lie  the 
canonized  precincts  of  Lexington  and  Concord  ;  there, 
rise  the  sacred  heights  of  Dorchester  and  Charlestown  ; 
there,  is  Harvard,  the  ancient  and  venerable,  fosterchild 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.  331 

of  public  and  private  liberality,  in  every  part  of  the 
State ;  to  whose  existence  Charlestown  gave  the  first 
impulse,  to  whose  growth  and  usefulness  the  opulence 
of  Boston  has,  at  all  times,  ministered  with  open  hand. 
Still  further  on  than  the  eye  can  reach,  four  lines  of 
communication,  by  rail-road  and  steam,  have,  within  our 
own  day,  united  with  the  capital,  by  bands  of  iron,  a 
still  broader  circuit  of  towns  and  villages.  Hark,  to 
the  voice  of  life  and  business  which  sounds  along  the 
lines  !  While  we  speak,  one  of  them  is  shooting  on- 
ward to  the  illimitable  West,  and  all  are  uniting  with 
the  other  kindred  enterprises,  to  form  one  harmonious 
and  prosperous  whole,  in  which  town  and  country,  ag- 
riculture and  manufactures,  labor  and  capital,  art  and 
Nature, — wrought  and  compacted  into  one  grand  sys- 
tem,— are  constantly  gathering  and  diffusing,  concen- 
trating and  radiating,  the  economical,  the  social,  the 
moral,  blessings,  of  a  liberal  and  diffusive  commerce. 

In  mere  prosperity  and  the  wealth  it  diffuses,  there 
is  no  ground  for  moral  approbation  ;  though,  I  believe, 
in  any  long  period  of  time,  it  will  be  found  that  those 
communities,  only,  are  signally  prosperous,  where  vir- 
tuous principle  is  revered,  as  the  rule  of  conduct.  It 
is  the  chief  glory  of  our  commercial  community,  that 
the  old  standard  of  morals  is  still  kept  up ;  that  indus- 
try and  frugality  are  still  held  in  honorable  repute  ;  that 
the  rage  for  speculation  has  not  eaten  out  the  vitals  of 
character,  and  that  lucky  fraud,  though  plated  stiff"  with 
ill-gotten  treasure,  dare  not  yet  lift  up  its  bold,  unblush- 
ing face,  in  the  presence  of  the  humblest  man  who  eats 
the  bread  of  honest  industry. 

So  may  it  still  remain  ;  and  let  it  still  be  your  object, 
gentlemen  of  the  Mercantile  Library  Association,  to  up- 
hold this  welt-approved  character  of  our  ancient  me- 
tropolis. Never  let  the  mere  acquisition  of  wealth  be 
an  exclusive  pursuit.  Consider  it  of  tenfold  importance, 
to  manifest,  in  all  the  transactions  of  life,  that  quick 
sense  of  honor,  "  which  feels  a  stain  like  a  wound,"  and 
that  integrity,  which  the  mines  of  Peru  could  not  bend 


332     ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT. 

from  the  path  of  principle.  Let  wealth  be  regarded  as 
the  instrument  of  doing,  as  well  as  of  enjoying,  good. 
In  a  republican  government,  the  mercantile  class,  in  the 
natural  course  of  things,  is  the  only  one  whose  mem- 
bers, generally  speaking,  can  amass  fortune  ;  let  it  be 
written  on  your  hearts,  in  the  morning  of  life,  that 
wealth  is  ennobled  only  in  its  uses.  Form,  from  the 
first,  a  large  conception  of  the  character  of  the  liberal 
and  upright  merchant.  Regard  him  as  one,  to  whom 
the  Country  looks  to  sustain  her  honor,  in  the  hour  of 
trial ;  to  uphold  her  public  establishments,  to  endow 
her  charities,  to  be  the  father  of  her  orphans :  as  one 
whom  no  success  will  make  ashamed  of  his  vocation  ; 
who  will  adorn  his  days  of  prosperity  with  moderation 
and  temper ;  and  hold  fast  his  integrity,  though  fortunes 
turn  to  ashes  in  his  grasp.  Improve  the  opportunities 
for  cultivating  your  minds,  which  this  Institution  pre- 
sents, never  greater  than  at  this  season  ;  and  the  still 
further  and  peculiar  opportunities  for  mental  improve- 
ment, which  will  shortly  be  placed  within  the  reach  of 
the  young  men  of  Boston,  in  consequence  of  the  recent 
munificent  bequest  of  Mr.  Lowell.  The  keys  of  knowl- 
edge are  in  your  hands ;  the  portals  of  her  temple  are 
open  to  you.  On  the  shelves  of  her  libraries,  there 
are  stores  of  information,  which,  besides  contributing  to 
your  success  in  your  calling,  will  give  grace  to  good  for- 
tune, and  comfort  and  resource  in  disaster. 

Above  all,  while  you  pursue,  with  spirit,  the  business 
of  your  vocation,  and  follow  the  paths  of  enterprise  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth,  let  a  well-instructed  conscience 
be  the  companion  of  your  way.  Pier  guidance  will 
safely  lead  you,  when  calculation  is  bewildered  and 
prudence  is  at  fault.  Though  your  hope,  in  all  else,  be 
blasted,  fail  not,  my  young  friends,  to  acquire  the  pearl 
of  great  price,  that  wisdom,  whose  merchandise  is  bet- 
ter than  the  merchandise  of  silver,  and  the  gain  there- 
of than  fine  gold.  Let  this  be  the  object  of  your  life ; 
and,  while  the  guilty  glories  of  war  are  deprecated  by 
mankind,  and  the  weary  honors  of  successful  ambition 


ACCUMULATION,  PROPERTY,  CAPITAL,  CREDIT.  333 

weigh  like  lead  on  the  wearer,  you  will  enjoy,  in  the 
esteem  and  gratitude  of  the  community  and  the  peace 
of  your  own  minds,  the  happy  portion  of  THE  LIBERAL 

AND  UPRIGHT  MERCHANT. 


334  IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION. 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION  IN  A 
REPUBLIC* 

MR.  PRESIDENT, — I  rise,  at  the  particular  request  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Board,  and  in  compliance  with 
the  wishes  of  other  respected  friends  of  Education,  to 
express  to  you  the  thoughts  which  occur  to  me,  on  the 
great  subject  now  under  our  consideration,  and  more 
especially,  on  the  Resolution  which  has  just  been  read. 
I  do  not  come  prepared  to  discuss  the  proposition  which 
it  contains,  in  a  maturely-digested  discourse.  My  ob- 
ject, only,  is  to  offer  to  you,  and  this  large  and  respect- 
ed audience,  the  thoughts,  somewhat  desultory,  which 
present  themselves  to  my  mind,  on  the  principle  ad- 
vanced in  the  Resolution  ;  and  if  I  can  do  no  more,  I 
shall  be  well  contented  with  having  offered  to  the  Con- 
vention this  public  testimony  of  the  interest  I  take  in 
the  cause. 

I  will  observe,  in  the  first  place,  that,  without  design- 
ing any  thing  like  adulation  of  our  native  State,  we 
may  claim  for  it  the  credit  of  having  made  provision 
for  education,  from  the  earliest  period  of  its  settlement. 
The  small  New-England  republics,  and  especially  Mas- 
sachusetts, have  been,  in  point  of  time,  far  in  advance 
of  the  older  governments  of  the  world,  in  systematic 
provision  for  the  education  of  the  people,  at  the  pub- 
lic expense.  In  setting  this  example,  we  have  certain- 
ly paid  back  to  Europe  no  small  part  of  the  debt  of 
civilization.  I  regard  this  hereditary  care  for  educa- 
tion as  a  precious  portion  of  our  moral  birthright,  and  I 
trust  we  shall  transmit  it,  unimpaired,  to  afterages. 

I  would  gladly  believe,  nay,  I  do  firmly  believe,  that 

*  The  following  Remarks,  in  substance,  were  made  at  a  County 
Common  School  Convention,  held  in  Taunton,  Massachusetts,  on  the 
10th  October,  1838,  when  a  Resolution  was  under  consideration, 
which  asserted  the  connexion  between  public  intelligence  and  a  repub- 
lican form  of  government. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION.  335 

this  attention, — which,  in  this  Country,  has  never  been 
withheld  from  education,  and  which,  of  late,  I  am  re- 
joiced to  say,  has  greatly  increased, — does  not  manifest 
itself  in  an  accidental,  far  less,  uncongenial,  association, 
with  that  general  interest  in  political  affairs,  which 
also  characterizes  our  communities,  and  springs  from 
popular  institutions.  On  the  contrary,  in  the  view  I 
take  of  the  subject,  a  country,  possessed  of  such  insti- 
tutions, is  precisely  that  where  education  is  most  im- 
portant ;  where  alone  it  is  absolutely  necessary,  for 
carrying  on  the  system  of  government,  and  keeping  up 
its  natural  healthy  action.  It  is,  of  course,  in  such  a 
country,  that  we  should  most  expect,  from  the  people, 
an  enlightened  and  vigilant  care  of  education. 

There  are  two  simple  plans  of  government ;  on  which, 
either  pure  and  without  qualification,  or  with  some  ad- 
mixture of  the  two  principles,  all  constitutions  are  con- 
structed. One  of  them  asserts,  that  the  people  are  the 
rightful  source  of  power,  both  ultimate  and  direct ;  the 
other  denies  this  proposition.  When  Charles  the  First 
stood  upon  the  scaffold,  and  a  moment  before  he  laid 
his  head  upon  the  block,  so  firm  was  his  faith  in  the 
last-named  principle,  that  he  declared,  with  his  dying 
breath,  that  "  the  people's  right  was  only  to  have  their 
life  and  their  goods  their  own,  a  share  in  the  gov- 
ernment being  nothing  pertaining  to  them.'!  The 
other  plan  is  announced,  in  clear  terms,  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  Massachusetts :  "  The  people  of  this  Com- 
monwealth have  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  of  gov- 
erning themselves,  as  a  free,  sovereign,  and  independ- 
ent, State." 

Now,  it  might  be  thought,  that,  even  on  the  theory 
of  government  which  Charles  sealed  with  his  blood, 
education  would  be  deemed  a  great  popular  interest,  as 
teaching  the  methods,  and  furnishing  some  of  the  means, 
of  preserving  life  and  acquiring  property,  which  he 
admitted  to  be  within  the  right  of  the  people.  It  does 
not  appear,  however,  that,  at  that  time,  nor  till  long 
after,  this  right  was  understood  as  imposing  any  correla- 


336  IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION. 

tive  duty  on  the  prince  ;  consequently,  such  a  thing,  as 
a  scheme  of  popular  education,  at  that  time,  was  un- 
thought  of.  It  is  not,  certainly,  my  intention  to  inti- 
mate, that  there  was  no  education  in  England,  before 
the  Revolution  of  1688,  but  such  as  was  compatible 
with  the  spirit  and  policy  of  a  purely  arbitrary  govern- 
ment. There  was  always  a  temperament  of  popular  in- 
stitutions in  the  British  monarchy,  inviting  and  forcing 
the  minds  of  men,  in  various  ways,  to  improvement  and 
progress.  The  administration  of  affairs  had  never,  in 
practice,  for  any  long  period  of  time,  been  brought  down 
to  the  platform  of  Oriental  despotism,  to  which  the  the- 
ory of  Charles  the  First  reduced  it. 

There  were  always  parliaments,  courts  of  justice,  and 
juries,  in  the  worst  of  times.  The  universities  were 
seats  of  scholastic  learning,  and  the  practice  of  dispens- 
ing religious  instruction,  from  the  pulpit,  forced  upon 
the  Church  a  certain  kind  of  popular  education  ;  but  I 
suppose  it  was  obtained  at  schools,  provided  by  pious 
and  charitable  individuals.  Nothing  resulted  from  the 
theory  of  the  government,  but  that  the  Prince,  and 
those  associated  with  him,  required  the  advantages  of 
education,  to  fit  them  for  the  administration  of  affairs. 
Accordingly,  we  find,  that,  with  the  popular  reforms 
which  have  been  made  in  the  government  of  England, 
in  modern  times,  and  especially  in  our  own  day,  atten- 
tion has  been  given,  for  the  first  time,  to  National  edu- 
cation. The  best  efforts  of  the  Broughams  and  Wyses 
have  been  strenuously  made  in  this  cause  ;  and  I  learn, 
with  satisfaction,  from  a  distinguished  gentleman  from 
that  Country,  who  is  now  present  with  us,  (Mr.  George 
Combe,  of  Edinburgh,)  that  a  greatly-increased  inter- 
est in  the  subject  has  marked  the  progress  of  the  po- 
litical reforms  of  a  recent  date,  in  the  land  of  our  fa- 
thers. In  like  manner,  in  France,  every  thing  that  has 
been  done  for  popular  education,  by  the  enlightened 
zeal  and  labors  of  M.  Cousin  and  its  other  distinguish- 
ed friends  in  that  Country,  dates  from  the  period  of  the 
political  reforms  of  the  government  of  the  Country.  It 


IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION.  337 

reflects  lasting  credit  on  the  Prussian  monarchy,  that, 
without  admitting  the  people  to  an  efficient  share  in 
the  government,  it  has  had  the  wisdom  and  the  cour- 
age to  bestow  upon  them  an  admirable  system  of  pub- 
lic education. 

But,  on  the  plan  of  government  established  in  the 
United  States,  where  the  people  are  not  only  in  the- 
ory the  source  of  power,  but  in  practice  are  actually 
called  upon,  constantly,  to  take  an  efficient  part  in  con- 
stituting and  administering  the  government,  it  is  plain, 
that  education  is  universally  and  indispensably  necessa- 
ry, to  enable  them  to  exercise  their  rights  and  perform 
their  duties.  This  will  be  put  beyond  question,  by  con- 
sidering a  few  particulars. 

I.  The  first  duty,  in  a  popular  government,  is  that 
which  is  attached  to  the  elective  franchise ;  though  I 
fear  it  is  too  little  regarded  in  this  light.  It  is  not  mere- 
ly the  right,  but  it  is  the  duty,  of  the  citizen,  by  the 
exercise  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  to  take  a  part,  at  pe- 
riods recurring  after  short  intervals,  in  organizing  the 
government.  This  duty  cannot  be  discharged  with  rec- 
titude, unless  it  be  discharged  with  intelligence ;  and 
it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  citizen  to  make  up  his  own 
mind,  on  all  the  great  questions  which  arise  in  admin- 
istering the  government.  How  numerous  and  impor- 
tant these  questions  are,  I  need  not  say.  Since  you 
and  I,  Mr.  President,  have  been  of  years  to  observe  the 
march  of  affairs,  the  people  of  the  United  States  have 
been  called  to  make  up  a  practical  judgement  on  the 
following,  among  other  great  questions : — the  protec- 
tive policy,  that  is,  on  the  legislation  necessary  to  in- 
troduce and  establish  an  infant  branch  of  manufactures  ; 
a  question,  however  easily  disposed  of  by  theorists,  on 
both  sides,  of  infinite  practical  difficulty ;  on  internal 
improvement,  that  is,  the  construction  of  public  works 
of  communication,  between  the  various  parts  of  the 
Country,  at  the  expense  of  the  general  government ; 
on  the  circulating  medium,  and  how  far  the  currency, 
which  is  the  representative  of  value,  must  have  intrin- 
29  E.  E. 


338  IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION. 

sic  value,  itself;  on  the  different  families  of  the  human 
race,  existing  in  the  Country,  and  the  rights  and  duties 
which  result  from  their  relation  to  each  other ;  on  the 
relations  of  the  Country  with  foreign  powers,  in  refer- 
ence to  colonial  trade,  disputed  boundaries,  and  indem- 
nification for  wrongs  and  spoliations ;  on  the  disposal 
of  the  public  domain,  and  its  bearings  on  the  progress 
of  population  and  of  republican  government,  in  the 
mighty  West ;  on  the  nature  of  our  political  system, 
as  consisting  in  the  harmonious  adjustment  of  the  Fed- 
eral and  State  governments.  I  have  named  only  apart 
of  the  questions,  which,  within  the  last  twenty  years, 
have  been,  some^  of  them  constantly,  before  the  com- 
munity,— the  turning  points  of  Municipal,  State,  and 
National,  elections.  The  good  citizen,  who  is  not  wil- 
ling to  be  the  slave  of  a  party  .because  he  is  a  member 
of  it,  must  make  up  his  mind  for  himself,  on  all  those 
great  questions,  or  he  cannot  exercise  the  right  of  suf- 
frage with  intelligence  and  independence.  As  the  ma- 
jority of  the  people  are  well  or  ill  informed  on  these 
subjects,  the  public  policy  of  the  Country  will  be  guid- 
ed by  wisdom  and  truth,  or  the  reverse. 

I  do  not  mean,  that  it  is  necessary  that  every  citizen 
should  receive  an  education  which  would  enable  him  to 
argue  all  these  questions,  at  length,  in  a  deliberative  or 
popular  assembly ;  but,  while  it  is  his  right  and  his  duty 
to  give  effect  to  his  judgement,  at  the  polls,  and  while 
the  constitution  necessarily  gives  as  much  weight  to  the 
vote  of  the  uninformed  and  ignorant  as  to  that  of  the 
well-instructed  and  intelligent  citizen,  it  is  plain,  that  the 
avenues  to  information  should  be  as  wide  and  numer- 
ous as  possible  ;  and  that  the  utmost  practicable  exten- 
sion should  be  given  to  a  system  of  education,  which 
will  confer  on  every  citizen  the  capacity  of  deriving 
knowledge,  with  readiness  and  accuracy,  from  books 
and  documents.  The  whole  energy  of  the  Slate  should 
be  directed  to  multiply  the  numbers  of  those  capable 
of  forming  an  independent  and  rational  judgement  of 
their  own,  and  to  diminish,  as  much  as  possible,  the 


IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION.  339 

numbers  of  the  opposite  class,  who,  being  blinded  by- 
ignorance,  are  at  the  mercy  of  any  one,  who  has  an  in- 
terest and  the  skill  to  delude  them. 

II.  But  the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise  is  only 
the  beginning  of  the  duties  of  the  citizen.     The  con- 
stitution makes  it  the  right,  the  laws  make  it  the  duty, 
of  all  citizens,  within  certain  ages,  to  bear  arms.     It  may 
sound  strangely,  to  connect  this  duty  with  the  subject 
of  education.     I  hope  no  practical  demonstration  of  the 
connexion  of  the  topics  will  ever  arise  among  us.     But 
this  right  and  this  duty,  lightly  esteemed  in  quiet  times, 
may  become  of  fearful  import.     Arms  are  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  citizen,  for  the  most  important  purposes  ; 
not  for  parade  and  holyday  display,  but  to  defend  his 
country  against  violence  from  abroad  ;  to  maintain  the 
supremacy  of  the  laws ;  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the 
community.     Heaven  grant,  that  the  day  may  be  far 
distant,  when  our  citizens  shall  be  called  to  wield  them, 
for  either  purpose.     But,  if  the  experience  of  the  past 
warrant  an  anticipation  of  the  future,  the  time  may 
come,  when  this  duty,  also,  is  to  be  performed.     It 
will  not,  then,  be  a  matter  of  indifference,  whether  the 
honor  and  peace  of  the  community  are  committed  to  an 
ignorant  and  benighted  multitude,  like  those  which  swell 
the  ranks  of  the  mercenary  standing  armies  of  Europe, 
or  to  an  educated  and  intelligent   population,  whose 
powers  of  reflection  have  been  strengthened  by  exer- 
cise, arid  who  are  able  to  discriminate  between  consti- 
tutional liberty  and  arbitrary  power,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  anarchy,  on  the  other. 

III.  There  are  other  civil  duties  to  be  performed,  for 
which  education  furnishes  a  still  more  direct  and  ap- 
propriate preparation.     The  law  of  the  land  calls  the 
citizen  to  take  a  part  in  the  administration  of  justice. 
Twelve  men  are  placed  in  the  jury-box,  to  decide  on 
the  numberless  questions  which  arise  in  the  community, 
— questions  of  character,  and  questions  of  life.     The 
jury  passes  on  your  fortune,  your  reputation  ;  pronoun- 
ces whether  you  live  or  die.     Go  into  the  courts ;  are 


340  IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION. 

•they  light  matters,  which  those  twelve  men  are  to  de- 
cide ?  Look  in  the  anxious  faces  of  those,  whose  es- 
tates, whose  good  name,  whose  all,  is  at  stake,  hanging 
on  the  intelligence  of  those  twelve  men,  or  any  one 
of  them.  What  assurance  is  there,  but  that  which 
comes  from  our  schools,  that  these  men  will  understand 
and  do  their  duty  ?  Those  little  boys,  now  sporting  in 
the  streets,  or  conning  their  tasks  in  our  town  schools, 
in  a  few  short  years  will  be  summoned,  in  their  turns, 
to  discharge  this  important  trust.  Can  we  deem  it  a 
matter  of  indifference,  whether  or  not  their  minds  have 
been  early  accustomed  to  follow  a  train  of  thoughts  or 
a  statement  of  facts  ?  Did  not  the  Secretary  give  us, 
this  morning,  from  his  own  experience,  the  instance  of 
a  witness,  who,  in  a  case  of  slander,  where  every  thing 
turned  on  his  testimony,  first  swore,  that  what  he  saw, 
he  saw  through  one  window,  and  then,  through  anoth- 
er, and  then,  through  a  door  ?  Wo  to  the  community, 
where  the  degree  of  stolidity  and  ignorance,  necessary 
to  constitute  such  a  witness,  abounds ;  and  where  it 
must  appear,  not  only  on  the  stand,  but  in  the  jury-box. 
It  appears  to  me  a  most  imperative  duty,  on  the  part 
of  a  State,  which  calls  its  citizens  to  discharge  this  mo- 
mentous office,  to  do  all  in  its  power  to  qualify  them 
for  it,  by  a  general  system  of  education.  Is  it  said, 
there  is  learned  counsel  to  argue  and  explain  the  cause 
to  a  jury,  however  ignorant  ?  But  there  is  counsel  on 
both  sides ;  the  jury  must  decide,  after  hearing  them 
both.  But  the  court  will  instruct  the  jury.  No  doubt, 
as  far  as  the  law  is  concerned ;  but  the  court's  instruc- 
tions are  addressed  to  minds,  supposed  to  be  capable 
of  following  out  an  argument,  estimating  evidence,  and 
making  up  an  independent  opinion.  I  do  riot  say,  that 
there  are  not  some  minds,  to  whom  the  best  opportuni- 
ties of  education  would  not  impart  the  requisite  qualifi- 
cations of  an  intelligent  juror.  But  I  may  appeal  to 
every  professional  character  and  magistrate  in  this  con- 
vention, that,  in  an  important  case,  if  he  were  to  be 
called  on  to  select  a  jury,  on  which  he  could  place  full 


IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION.  341 

reliance,  he  would  select  men  of  good  common  sense, 
who  had  received  a  good  common  education. 

IV.  But  I  have  not  yet  named  all  the  civil  duties,  for 
which  education  is  needed  as  the  preparatory  discipline. 
The  various  official  trusts  in  society  are  to  be  filled, 
from  a  commission  of  the  peace  to  the  place  of  chief-jus- 
tice ;  from  a  constable  up  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States.     The  sphere  of  duty,  of  some  of  these  func- 
tionaries, is  narrow;  of  others,  large  and  inexpressibly 
responsible ;    of  none,  insignificant.     Taken  together, 
they  make  up  the  administration  of  free  government, — 
the  greatest  merely  temporal  interest  of  civilized  man. 
There    are    three    courses,    between    which    we    must 
choose.     We  must  have  officers  unqualified  for  their 
duties ;  or  we  must  educate  a  privileged  class,  to  mo- 
nopolize the  honors  and  emoluments  of  place ;  or,  we 
must  establish  such  a  system  of  general  education,  as 
will  furnish  a  supply  of  well-informed,  intelligent,  and 
respectable  citizens,  in  every  part  of  the  Country  and  in 
every  walk  of  life,  capable  of  discharging   the  trusts 
which  the  people  may  devolve  upon  them.     The  topic 
is  of  great  compass,  but  I  cannot  dwell  upon  it.     It  is 
superfluous  to  say,  which  of  the  three  courses  is  most 
congenial  with  the  spirit  of  republicanism. 

V.  I  have  thus  far  spoken  of  those  reasons,  for  pro- 
moting Common-School  Education,  which  spring  from 
the  nature  of  our  government.     There  are  others,  de- 
rived from  the  condition  of  our  Country.     Individual 
enterprise  is  every  where  stimulated  ;  the  paths  of  ad- 
venture are  opened  ;  the  boundless  West  prevents  the 
older   settlements   from   being  overstocked,  and  gives 
scope  for  an  unexampled  developement  of  energy.     Ed- 
ucation is  wanted,  to  enlighten  and  direct  those  active, 
moving  powers.     Without  it,  much  wild  vigor  will  be 
exerted  in  vain.       Energy,  alone,  is   not  enough  ;    it 
must  be  turned"  to  feasible  objects,  and  work  by  sound 
principles. 

Again,  this  spirit  of  enterprise  runs  naturally  towards 
the  acquisition  of  wealth.     In  this,  I  find  no  matter  of 
29* 


342  IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION. 

reproach  ;  only  let  it  not  be  a  merely  Carthaginian  pros- 
perity. Let  a  taste  for  reading  and  reflection  be  cultiva- 
ted, as  well  as  property  acquired.  Let  us  give  our  chil- 
dren the  keys  of  knowledge,  as  well  as  an  establishment 
in  business.  Let  them,  in  youth,  form  habits  and  tastes, 
which  will  remain  with  them,  in  afterlife,  in  old  age,  and 
furnish  rational  entertainment,  at  all  times.  When  we 
collect  the  little  circle,  at  the  family  board  and  at  the 
fireside,  in  our  long  Winter  evenings,  let  us  be  able  to 
talk  of  subjects  of  interest  and  importance, — the  pro- 
ductions and  institutions  of  our  own  and  foreign  coun- 
tries ;  the  history  of  our  venerateH  fathers ;  the  won- 
ders of  the  material  universe  ;  the  experience  of  our 
race  ;  great  moral  interests  and  duties  ; — subjects,  surely 
as  important  as  dollars  and  cents.  Let  us,  from  early 
years,  teach  our  children  to  rise  above  the  dust  beneath 
their  feet,  to  the  consideration  of  the  great  spiritual 
concerns  of  immortal  natures.  A  mere  bookworm  is 
a  worthless  character ;  but  a  mere  moneygetter  is  no 
better. 

It  is  a  great  mistake,  to  suppose  that  it  is  necessary 
to  be  a  professional  man,  in  order  to  have  leisure  to  in- 
dulge a  taste  for  reading.  Far  otherwise.  I  believe 
the  mechanic,  the  engineer,  the  husbandman,  the  tra- 
der, have  quite  as  much  leisure,  as  the  average  of  men 
in  the  learned  professions.  I  know  some  men,  busily 
engaged  in  these  different  callings  of  active  life,  whose 
minds  are  well  stored  with  various,  useful  knowledge, 
acquired  from  books.  There  would  be  more  such  men, 
if  education  in  our  Common  Schools  were,  as  it  well 
might  be,  of  a  higher  order;  and  if  Common-School 
Libraries,  well  furnished,  were  introduced  into  every 
district,  as  I  trust,  in  due  time,  they  will  be.  It  is  sur- 
prising, sir,  how  much  may  be  effected,  even  under  the 
most  unfavorable  circumstances,  for  the  improvement 
of  the  mind,  by  a  person  resolutely  berit  on  the  acqui- 
sition of  knowledge.  A  letter  has  been  put  into  my 
hands,  bearing  date  the  sixth  of  September,  so  interest- 
ing, in  itself,  and  so  strongly  illustrative  of  this  point, 


IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION.  343 

that  I  will  read  a  portion  of  it ;  though  it  was  written, 
I  am  sure,  without  the  least  view  to  publicity. 

'•'  I  was  the  youngest"  (says  the  writer*)  "  of  many 
brethren,  and  my  parents  were  poor.  My  means  of 
education  were  limited  to  the  advantages  of  a  district 
school ;  and  those,  again,  were  circumscribed  by  my 
father's  death,  which  deprived  me,  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
of  those  scanty  opportunities,  which  I  had  previously 
enjoyed.  A  few  months  after  his  decease,  I  appren- 
ticed myself  to  a  blacksmith,  in  my  native  village. 
Thither  I  carried  an  indomitable  taste  for  reading, 
which  I  had  previously  acquired,  through  the  medium 
of  the  social  library ;  all  the  historical  works  in  which, 
I  had,  at  that  time,  perused.  At  the  expiration  of  a 
little  more  than  half  my  apprenticeship,  I  suddenly  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  studying  Latin.  Through  the  assist- 
ance of  an  elder  brother,  who  had  himself  obtained  a 
collegiate  education,  by  his  own  exertions,  I  completed 
my  Virgil,  during  the  evenings  of  one  Winter.  After 
some  time  devoted  to  Cicero,  and  a  few  other  Latin  au- 
thors, I  commenced  the  Greek.  At  this  time,  it  was  ne- 
cessary that  I  should  devote  every  hour  of  daylight,  and 
a  part  of  the  evening,  to  the  duties  of  my  apprenticeship. 
Still,  I  carried  my  Greek  grammar  in  my  hat,  and  often 
found  a  moment,  when  I  was  heating  some  large  iron, 
when  I  could  place  my  book  open,  before  me,  against 
the  chimney  of  my  forge,  and  go  through  with  tupto, 
tupteis,  tuptei,^  unperceived  by  my  fellow  apprentices, 
and,  to  my  confusion  of  face,  with  a  detrimental  effect 
to  the  charge  in  my  fire.  At  evening,  I  sat  down,  un- 
assisted and  alone,  to  the  Iliad  of  Homer,  twenty  books 
of  which  measured  my  progress  in  that  language,  dur- 
ing the  evenings  of  another  Winter.  I  next  turned  to 
the  modern  languages,  and  was  much  gratified  to  learn, 
that  my  knowledge  of  the  Latin  furnished  me  with  a 
key  to  the  literature  of  most  of  the  languages  of  Eu- 

*  Mr.  Elihu  Bnrritt. 

t  The  example  'of  the  regular  verb,  in  some  Greek  gramman. 


344  IMPORTANCE   OF   EDUCATION. 

rope.  This  circumstance  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the 
desire  of  acquainting  myself  with  the  philosophy,  deri- 
vation, and  affinity,  of  the  different  European  tongues. 
I  could  not  be  reconciled  to  limit  myself,  in  these  in 
vestigations,  to  a  few  hours,  after  the  arduous  labors  of 
the  day.  I  therefore  laid  down  my  hammer,  and  went 
to  New  Haven,  where  I  recited,  to  native  teachers,  in 
French,  Spanish,  German,  and  Italian.  I  returned,  at 
the  expiration  of  two  years,  to  the  forge,  bringing  with 
me  such  books,  in  those  languages,  as  I  could  procure. 
When  I  had  read  these  books  through,  I  commenced 
the  Hebrew,  with  an  awakened  desire  of  examining 
another  field ;  and,  by  assiduous  application,  I  was  ena- 
bled, in  a  few  weeks,  to  read  this  language  with  such 
facility,  that  I  allotted  it  to  myself,  as  a  task,  to  read  two 
chapters  in  the  Hebrew  Bible,  before  breakfast,  each 
morning ;  this,  and  an  hour  at  noon,  being  all  the  time 
that  I  could  devote  to  myself,  during  the  day. 

"  After  becoming  somewhat  familiar  with  this  lan- 
guage, I  looked  around  me,  for  the  means  of  initiating 
myself  into  the  fields  of  Oriental  literature,  and,  to  my 
deep  regret  and  concern,  I  found  my  progress,  in  this 
direction,  hedged  up,  by  the  want  of  requisite  books. 
I  immediately  began  to  devise  means  of  obviating  this 
obstacle  ;  and,  after  many  plans,  I  concluded  to  seek  a 
place,  as  a  sailor,  on  board  some  ship  bound  to  Europe, 
thinking  in  this  way  to  have  opportunities  of  collecting, 
at  different  ports,  such  works  in  the  modern  and  Ori- 
ental languages,  as  I  found  necessary  to  this  object.  I 
left  the  forge  and  my  native  place,  to  carry  this  plan 
into  execution.  I  travelled  on  foot  to  Boston,  a  dis- 
tance of  more  than  a  hundred  miles,  to  find  some  vessel 
bound  to  Europe.  In  this,  I  was  disappointed ;  and, 
while  revolving  in  my  mind  what  step  next  to  take,  I 
accidentally  heard  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society, 
in  Worcester.  I  immediately  bent  my  steps  towards 
this  place.  I  visited  the  Hall  of  the  American  Antiqua- 
rian Society,  and  found  there,  to  my  infinite  gratifica- 
tion, such  a  collection  of  ancient,  modern,  and  Oriental, 


IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION.  345 

languages,  as  I  never  before  conceived  to  be  -collected 
in  one  place ;  and,  sir,  you  may  imagine  with  what 
sentiments  of  gratitude  I  was  affected,  when,  upon 
evincing  a  desire  to  examine  some  of  these  rich  and 
rare  works,  I  was  kindly  invited  to  an  unlimited  par- 
ticipation in  all  the  benefits  of  this  noble  Institution. 
Availing  myself  of  the  kindness  of  the  directors,  I  spend 
about  three  hours,  daily,  at  the  Hall,  which,  with  an 
hour  at  noon,  and  about  three  in  the  evening,  make  up 
the  portion  of  the  day  which  I  appropriate  to  my  stud- 
ies, the  rest  being  occupied  in  arduous  manual  labor. 
Through  the  facilities  afforded  by  this  Institution,  I  have 
been  able  to  add  so  much  to  my  previous  acquaintance 
with  the  ancient,  modern,  and  Oriental,  languages,  as  to 
be  able  to  read  upwards  of  FIFTY  of  them,  with  more  or 
less  facility." 

I  trust,  Mr.  President,  I  shall  be  pardoned,  by  the 
author  of  this  letter  and  the  gentleman  to  whom  it  is 
addressed,*  for  the  liberty  which  I  have  taken,  unex- 
pected, I  am  sure,  by  both  of  them,  in  thus  making  it 
public.  It  discloses  a  resolute  purpose  of  improvement, 
under  obstacles  and  difficulties  of  no  ordinary  kind, 
which  excites  my  admiration,  I  may  say,  my  veneration. 
It  is  enough  to  make  one,  who  has  had  good  opportun- 
ities for  education,  hang  his  head,  in  shame. 

No  leisure,  Mr.  President,  for  reading?  Is  there  a 
man  in  the  community,  of  an  intelligent  mind,  and  with 
any,  the  least  tincture  of  improvement,  derived  from 
education,  who,  when  coming,  at  nightfall,  from  his  la- 
bor, (I  care  not  how  hard  or  humble,)  if  told  that,  be- 
neath his  roof,  he  would  find  Shakspeare,  or  Milton,  or 
Scott,  or  Irving,  or  Channing,  seated  in  actual  pres- 
ence by  his  fireside,  and  waiting  to  converse  with  him, 
would  talk  of  wanting  leisure,  or  of  fatigue  ?  Would 
he  not  bound  forward  to  meet  them,  as  the  panting 
hart  bounds  to  the  waterbrooks  ?  Would  not  the  stars 
grow  pale  in  the  sky,  before  he  would  think  of  weari- 

*  W.  Lincoln,  Esq. ,  of  Worcester 


346  IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION. 

ness  ?  "Well,  sir,  there  is  not  an  individual  in  the  com- 
munity, who  cannot,  for  a  few  dollars,  surround  his  fire- 
side with  these  and  kindred  spirits,  the  lights  and  guides 
of  humanity  :  not  in  bodily,  but  in  intellectual,  presence. 
They  will  speak  to  his  understanding,  not  through  the 
ear,  but  through  the  eye.  They  will  discourse  to  him, 
not  in  their  everyday  language,  in  which  the  most  gifted 
do  not  always  greatly  excel  their  fellows ;  but  in  the 
choicest  and  purest  strains,  to  which,  by  study  and 
meditation,  and,  I  had  almost  said,  by  inspiration,  they 
have  elevated  their  thoughts  ;  and  this  they  will  do,  not 
for  a  hasty  moment,  in  a  brief  visit,  but  again  and  again, 
for  days  and  for  years ;  yea,  unti],  by  long-continued 
intercourse  with  the  noblest  intellects  of  our  race,  his 
own  becomes  exalted  and  purified. 

VI.  There  is  one  other  topic,  to  which  I  ought  to 
allude,  more  important  than  all  others  ;  but  I  have  only 
time  for  a  single  remark.  Man  is  a  religious  being, 
and,  as  far  as  human  means  and  influences  go,  educa- 
cation  is  the  natural  basis  of  a  rational  belief.  It  is  the 
peculiarity  of  Christianity,  as  distinguished  from  other 
religions,  that  it  addresses  the  understanding,  as  well 
as  the  heart.  It  commands  us  to  search  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  to  be  ready  to  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  is 
in  us ;  and  invites  us,  on  the  Sabbath,  to  listen  to  a 
discourse,  that  is,  a  connected,  well-reasoned  address, 
on  its  evidence,  duties,  hopes,  and  sanctions.  Can  this 
be  done  to  a  good  purpose,  (humanly  speaking,)  with- 
out education  ?  The  heathen  might  ofler  incense  on 
the  altar  of  Jupiter,  with  a  vacant  mind  ;  he  might  scru- 
tinize the  palpitating  viscera  of  animals,  with  a  grovel- 
ling spirit ;  he  might  consult  the  oracle  at  Delphi,  and 
shape  his  conduct  by  the  response,  with  a  benighted 
understanding.  It  is  saying  but  little,  to  say,  that 
there  was  nothing  in  his  religion,  that  invited  the  exer- 
cise of  his  mental  powers.  We  are  blessed  with  a 
faith,  which  calls  into  action  the  whole  intellectual 
man ;  which  prescribes  a  reasonable  service ;  challen- 
ges the  investigation  of  its  evidences ;  and  which,  in 


IMPORTANCE  OF  EDUCATION.  347 

the  doctrine  of  immortality,  invests  the  mind  of  man 
with  a  portion  of  the  dignity  of  Divine  Intelligence.  In 
whatever  other  respects  the  advantages  of  education 
might  be  dispensed  with,  when  we  consider  man  as  a 
religious  and  immortal  being,  it  is  a  shocking  spectacle, 
to  see  him  growing  up,  dark  and  benighted,  ignorant 
of  himself,  of  his  duties,  and  of  his  destination. 

But  this  subject  is  too  vast  for  the  occasion.  I  for- 
bear to  enlarge.  I  trust,  sir,  the  resolution  will  be 
adopted,  and  that  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  of  this 
generation,  will  show,  by  their  conduct,  as  a  powerful 
Commonwealth,  not  less  than  as  a  community  of  indi- 
viduals, that  they  perceive  the  intimate  connexion  be- 
tween education  and  the  existence  and  prosperity  of 
free  institutions  of  government. 


GLOSSARY 


OP  WORDS   AND    PHRASES   NOT   EASILY   TO    BE    UNDER- 
STOOD   BY   THE  YOUNG   READER. 

[Many  names  of  persons  and  places,  terms  of  art,  &c.,  which 
occur  in  this  Volume,  will  be  found  explained  in  one  of  the  places 
where  they  occur.  For  these,  see  INDEX.] 

Abana,  (or  Amana,)  a  river  of  Palestine,  mentioned  by  Naaman, 
(2  Kings  v.  12,)  as  better  than  all  the  waters  of  Israel.  It  rises  in 
Anti  Lebanon,  and  unites  with  the  Pharpar  about  four  miles  north- 
west of  Damascus.  It  is  then  again  divided  into  several  streams, 
one  of  which  passes  through  Damascus,  and  the  others  around  it, 
after  which  they  are  lost  in  a  bog,  or  marsh,  called  Bahr-el-Marje,  or 
Lake  of  th«  Meadow.  The  Abana  was  called  Chrysorrhoas  by  the 
Greeks,  and  is  now  called  Barrady. 

Absolute  monarchy,  a  form  of  government,  in  which  the  power  of  the 
monarch  is  unlimited. 

Absolutism,  the  system,  or  principle,  of  vesting  unlimited  power  in 
the  sovereign. 

Academy,  a  place  of  education  ;  a  school  of  philosophy  ;  an  assem- 
bly or  society  of  learned  men,  uniting  for  the  purpose  of  conferring 
together  upon  discoveries  already  made  in  the  sciences,  or  to  try 
experiments  for  their  further  improvement.  The  name  is  derived 
from  the  groves  of  Academus,  in  the  vicinity  of  Athens,  about  one 
eighth  of  a  mile  from  the  city,  where  the  Philosopher,  Plato,  re- 
sided, and  gave  his  instructions  ;  from  which  time  they  became,  in 
a  great  measure,  sacred  to  philosophy.  The  name  Academy  is 
often  used  for  the  school  of  Plato,  as  in  this  Volume,  pages  23, 
41.  In  other  places,  as  pages  25,  155,  it  is  confined  to  the  vari- 
ous public  societies  established  in  different  countries,  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  arts  and  sciences.  The  French  Academy,  at 
Paris,  and  Royal  Academy,  at  London,  are  those  particularly  men- 
tioned in  this  Volume.  There  is,  in  this  Country,  an  'American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.'  See  French  and  Royal. 

Acropolis,  (Greek,)  the  highest  part  or  citadel  of  a  city,  particularly 
that  of  Athens. 

Accession,  the  act  of  coming  into  power,  or  of  entering  upon  an 
office. 

Adelphic,  fraternal. 

Adriatic  Sea,  also  called  Gulf  of  Venice,  an  arm  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean Sea,  on  the  northeast  of  Italy. 

Aladdin,  the  subject  of  one  of  the  tales  in  the  'Arabian  Nights' 
Entertainments.'  The  possession  of  a  magical  lamp  is  represented 
as  giving  him  command  of  the  services  of  the  '  Genius  of  the  Lamp,' 
30  E.  E. 


350  GLOSSARY. 

an  imaginary  being  of  superhuman  powers,  by  whom  all  his  or- 
ders  were  obeyed,  with  the  celerity  of  enchantment. 

Jllbertus  Magnus,  or  Albert  the  Great,  a  distinguished  theologian 
and  natural  philosopher,  who  resided  at  Paris,  Rome,  and  Cologne, 
and  died  at  the  latter  place,  in  the  year  1280,  aged  about  eighty 
years.  He  was  for  some  time  Bishop  of  Ralisbon,  but  his  love  of 
solitude  induced  him  to  resign  that  dignity,  and  retire  to  a  monas- 
tery. His  works  make  twenty-one  foiio  volumes. 

JUcceus,  a  celebrated  lyric  poet  of  Greece,  who  flourished  about  six 
hundred  years  before  Christ.  A  few  fragments,  only,  of  his  works 
remain. 

Jllchymists,  the  professors  of  JHchymy,  an  art  which  originated  in 
Arabia,  in  the  fourth  century,  and  was  afterwards  much  cultivated 
in  Europe,  which  had  for  its  object  the  transmutation,  or  change, 
of  the  baser  metals  into  gold,  and  the  discovery  of  the  philoso- 
pher's stone,  a  substance  supposed  to  possess  the  power  of  curing 
all  diseases,  and  renewing  life.  The  alchymists,  though  engaged 
in  the  pursuit  of  objects  now  known  to  be  visionary,  have,  by  their 
experiments,  rendered  much  service  to  modern  chemistry. 

JLlcuin,  called  also  JUbinus,  (Flaccus,)  an  Englishman,  and  the 
most  eminent  scholar  of  his  age,  born  A.  D.  732. 

Alexander  the  Great, — 'Macedonia's  madman,' — a  celebrated  King 
of  Macedonia,  who  was  born  three  hundred  and  fifty-six  years  be- 
fore the  birth  of  our  Saviour,  and  died  in  the  thirty-second  year 
of  his  age.  He  was  a  great  warrior,  and  conquered  his  enemies  in 
every  battle  which  he  fought  ;  and  at  last  is  said  to  have  wept, 
because  "  there  were  no  more  worlds  to  conquer."  The  extent 
of  his  conquests,  and  his  uniform  success  in  war,  have  rendered 
his  name  synonymous  with  conqueror.  He  was  proud,  ordering 
himself  to  be  worshipped  as  a  god  ;  and  visited  the  temple  of  Ju- 
piter Arnmon  in  the  Desert  of  Siwah,  and  bribed  the  priests  of  the 
temple  to  declare  him  to  be  the  son  of  Jupiter.  He  was  brave, 
often  to  rashness  ;  humane  and  liberal  ;  easy  and  familiar  with  his 
friends  ;  and  a  great  patron  of  learning.  But  he  was  a  drunkard  ; 
and  in  one  of  his  fits  of  madness,  produced  by  intoxication  and  de- 
bauchery, he  set  fire  to  the  city  of  Persepolis. 

Alexandria,  the  capital  of  Lower  Egypt,  founded  by  Alexander  the 
Great.  This  city,  under  the  reign  of  the  Ptolemies,  successors  of 
Alexander,  was  distinguished  as  the  seat  of  learning.  At  the  Mu- 
seum, founded  by  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  who  died  B.  C.  247,  nu- 
merous scholars  lived,  were  supported,  and  studied.  The  gram- 
marians and  poets  of  Alexandria  are  termed,  collectively,  the  Al- 
exandrian school,  and  the  age  of  literature  under  the  Ptolemies  is 
termed  the  Alexandrian  age. 

Jllgierx,  one  of  the  States  of  Barbary,  on  the  northern  coast  of  Afri- 
ca, with  a  capital  city  of  the  same  name,  which  was  surrendered 
to  the  French,  July  5,  1830,  previous  to  which  time,  the  Algerines 
were  a  piratical  nation,  and  received  tribute  from  several  states  of 
Christendom. 

Alkali,  (plural  alkalies,)  a  substance  that  has  the  property  of  com- 
bining with,  and  neutralizing  the  properties  of,  acids,  producing 
salts  by  the  combination.  Alkalies  change  the  vegetable  blues  and 


GLOSSARY.  351 

purples  to  green,  red  to  purple,  and  yellow  to  brown.  Caustic 
alkali,  an  alkali  deprived  of  its  carbonic  acid,  being  thereby  ren- 
dered more  caustic  and  violent  in  its  operation.  This  term  is  usu- 
ally applied  to  pure  potash.  Fixe/I  alkali,  an  alkali  that  emits  no 
characteristic  smell,  and  cannot  be  volatilized  or  evaporated  with- 
out great  difficulty.  Potash  and  soda  are  called  the  fixed  alkalies. 
Soda  is  also  called  a  Fossil,  or  Mineral  Alkali,  and  potash,  the 
Vegetable  Alkali.  Volatile  alkali,  an  elastic,  transparent,  col- 
orless, and  consequently  invisible,  gas,  known  by  the  name  of  am- 
monia, or  spirits  of  hartshorn. 

Allston,  (Washington,)  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  living  paint- 
ers ;  an  American. 

Alma  muter,  dear,  or  benignant,  mother  ;  an  epithet  applied  to  a 
college,  university,  or  other  seminary  of  learning,  by  those  who 
have  there  received  their  education. 

Alpine,  of,  or  relating  to,  the  Alps,  a  lofty  ridge  of  mountains  in 
Europe,  the  highest  summits  of  which  are  in  Savoy  and  Switzer- 
land. 

Altai  Mountains,  a  vast  chain  of  mountains,  in  Asia,  forming,  for  a 
great  distance,  the  southern  boundary  of  Siberia. 

Amalgamation,  the  combination  of  mercury  with  other  metals.  The 
compound  is  called  an  amalgam. 

Anacaona,  a  female  cacique  (chief)  of  Hispaniola,  or  St.  Domingo  ; 
put  to  death  by  the  Spaniards,  under  Ovando,  in  1505. 

Anatolia,  see  Asia  Minor. 

Andes,  an  immense  chain  of  mountains,  extending  through  South 
America,  from  north  to  south.  In  Chili,  these  mountains,  which, 
to  the  north  and  south,  are  divided  into  several  ridges,  form  but 
one  ridge,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  breadth  :  and 
the  Chilian  Andes  present  many  summits  of  great  height. 

Anson,  (George,)  Lord,  a  distinguished  English  naval  commander, 
between  1739  and  1761.  lie  not  only  obtained  numerous  victo- 
ries over  the  ships  of  the  French  and  Spaniards,  then  at  war  with 
England,  but  added  much  to  geographical  knowledge,  by  his  ex- 
plorations and  discoveries. 

Anti-Christian,  opposed  to  Christianity. 

Antartic  Sea,  or  Ocean,  (also  called  Southern  Frozen  Ocean,)  the 
ocean  lying  round  the  south  pole,  and  south  of  the  southern  ex- 
tremities of  America,  Africa,  and  New  Holland. 

Apollo,  one  of  the  deities  of  the  ancient  Grecian  mythology,  presid- 
ing over  poetry,  music,  medicine,  and  prophecy.  One  of  the  most 
perfect  specimens  of  ancient  sculpture,  which  have  come  down  to 
modern  times,  is  the  statue  of  this  god,  named  the  Apollo  JBelri- 
dere,  from  the  pavilion  called  Belvidere,  in  the  Vatican,  or  Pope's 
palace  at  Rome. 

Apollonius  the  Rhodian,  an  ancient  poet,  born  about  two  hundred 
and  thirty  years  before  Christ.  He  wrote  a  poem,  of  some  merit, 
upon  the  expedition  of  the  Argonauts,  who  sailed  in  the  ship  Argo, 
under  the  command  of  the  hero  Jason,  in  search  of  the  fabulous 
golden  fleece. 

Appetence,  desire. 

April  the  nineteenth,  see  Lexington. 


352  GLOSSARY. 

A  priori,  literally,  from  the  preceding.  Reasoning  a  priori,  is  rea- 
soning on  grounds  preceding  actual  knowledge. 

Arabs,  or  Arabians,  inhabitants  of  Arabia,  an  extensive  region  in, 
the  southwestern  part  of  Asia. 

Arcadia,  a  mountainous  country,  in  the  centre  of  the  peninsula  con- 
stituting the  southern  part  of  Greece,  now  called  the  Morea,  and 
anciently  the  Peloponnesus.  It  has  been  much  celebrated  by  the 
poets,  as  the  abode  of  virtue,  courage,  and  pastoral  simplicity  of 
manners. 

Archangel,  a  city  in  the  northern  part  of  Russia,  on  the  River  Dwi- 
na,  about  six  miles  from  the  White  Sea  ;  formerly  the  only  mari- 
time city  of  importance  in  Russia,  but,  since  the  foundation  of  St. 
Petersburg,  it  has  much  declined. 

Archimedes,  the  most  celebrated  among  the  ancient  geometricians, 
born  at  Syracuse,  in  Sicily,  about  two  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
years  before  the  birth  of  our  Saviour.  He  was  the  inventor  of  sev- 
eral of  the  most  important  mechanical  powers,  such  as  the  com- 
pound pulley,  the  endless  screw,  &c.  ;  and  is  reported  to  have 
said  he  would  move  the  world,  if  he  could  find  a  fulcrum,  or  point, 
without  it,  on  which  he  could  stand  and  place  his  lever.  He  is 
also  said  to  have  constructed  lenses,  or  burning  glasses,  of  such 
great  power,  that  he  set  on  fire  with  them  the  ships  of  the  Roman 
fleet,  which  was  besieging  Syracuse.  Hiero,  King  of  Syracuse, 
suspecting  that  an  artist  had  added  some  common  metal  to  a  crown, 
which  he  had  directed  to  be  made  of  pure  gold,  requested  Archi- 
medes to  ascertain  the  fact.  He  discovered  the  method  of  solving 
the  question,  while  he  was  in  the  bath. 

Archipelago,  a  sea  interspersed  with  many  islands.  The  name  was 
originally  applied  to  the  /Egean  Sea,  situated  between  Europe  and 
Asia,  and  which  is  called  the  Grecian  Archipelago,  but  has  been 
also  extended  to  other  seas  and  even  oceans.  By  the  Indian  Ar- 
chipelago is  to  be  understood  the  collection  of  islands  south  of  the 
eastern  part  of  the  continent  of  Asia,  and  forming  a  part  of  what 
is  comprehended  under  the  term  East  Indies. 

Ariosto,  (Ludovico,)  an  eminent  Italian  poet,  who  was  bcrn  A.  D. 
1474,  and  died  A.  D.  1533.  His  great  work  is  the  Orlando  Furi- 
oso,  an  epic  poem. 

Aristotle,  a  distinguished  Grecian  philosopher,  born  B.  C.  384,  at 
Stagira,  in  Macedonia,  whence  he  is  sometimes  called  the  Stagy- 
rite.  He  was  the  preceptor  of  Alexander  the  Great. 

Arkwright,  (Sir  Richard,)  inventor  of  the  spinning-jenny,  died  in 
1792.  For  a  further  account  of  him,  see  the  second  volume  of 
'  Pursuit  of  Knowledge  under  Difficulties,'  forming  Vol.  xv.  of 
'  THE  SCHOOL.  LIBRARY,'  Larger  Series. 

Armadillo,  a  small  quadruped,  found  in  tropical  America,  whose 
whole  body  is  covered  with  a  hard  shell,  consisting  of  scales  or 
plates,  arranged  like  a  coat  of  mail.  When  attacked,  the  animal 
rolls  himself  into  a  solid  uniform  ball. 

Armillary,  resembling  a  bracelet.  The  armillary  sphere  consists 
of  a  number  of  rings  of  brass,  or  bracelets,  representing  the  vari- 
ous circles  of  the  celestial  globe. 

Asia  Minor t  (now  called  Anatolia,  or  Matolia, )  a  province  of  Astatic 


GLOSSARY.  353 

Turkey,  is  that  part  of  Asia  comprehended  between  the  Grecian 
Archipelago  and  the  Mediterranean  and  Black  Seas,  and  border- 
ing, easterly,  on  Armenia  and  Syria. 

Assyrians,  people  of  Assyria,  one  of  the  most  important  kingdoms 
of  ancient  Asia. 

Astrolabe,  an  instrument  for  measuring  angles,  formerly  in  use  for 
determining  the  position  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  but  not  now  used. 

Alahualpa,  the  last  of  the  Incas,  or  native  princes  of  Quito,  a  prov- 
ince of  South  America.  He  was  burnt  by  the  Spaniards,  in  1533. 

Athens,  the  capital  of  Attica,  one  of  the  countries  of  ancient  Greece. 
It  was  remarkable  as  the  seat  of  art,  literature,  and  philosophy. 
It  was  rich  in  public  edifices  of  the  greatest  magnificence.  It  was 
the  resort  and  abode  of  poets,  whence  the  phrase,  '  the  Attic 
Muse,'  embraces  the  noblest  productions  of  Grecian  poetry.  The 
schools  of  the  philosophers,  of  Plato,  Aristotle,  Zeno,  and  Epicu- 
rus, were  held  within,  or  near,  the  city.  Athens  is  still  interesting, 
on  account  of  the  ruins  of  its  ancient  buildings,  of  which  enough 
remains  to  attest  its  former  splendor. 

JithcntKum,  a  name  given  to  public  libraries,  frequented  for  the  pur- 
poses of  reading.  It  was  the  name  of  a  building  in  ancient  Athens, 
dedicated  to  Minerva,  and  destined  for  assemblies  of  poets  and 
orators. 

Athos,  a  lofty  mountain  in  Greece. 

Atlantis,  a  name  given  by  the  ancients  to  an  island  supposed  to  exist 
in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  but  respecting  which  they  had  only  vague 
and  indefinite  accounts.  As  they  placed  it  in  a  spot  where  after- 
wards no  island  was  found,  it  was  supposed  to  have  sunk, — to  be 
c  lost.'  Its  existence  is  now  generally  regarded  as  imaginary. 

Atlas,  a  chain  of  mountains  in  Northern  Africa. 

Attica,  Attic  muse,  see  Athens. 

Augustan  age,  see  the  next  article. 

Augustus,  (Octavius  Caesar,)  a  Roman  Emperor,  who  was  born  about 
B.  C.  62,  and  died  A.  D.  14.  His  age  was  remarkable  for  the 
number  of  distinguished  writers  and  men  of  genius  whom  it  pro- 
duced ;  whence  the  phrase,  Augustan  age,  is  applied  to  any  flour- 
ishing era  in  literature. 

Auspices,  signs  of  future  events. 

Australia,  that  division  of  the  globe,  which  comprehends  the  numer- 
ous islands  lying  in  the  Southern  and  the  Pacific  Oceans. 

Babylonian,  of  Babylon,  the  capital  of  the  ancient  Asiatic  empire 
of  Babylonia. 

Bacon,  (Francis,  Baron  Veruiam,)  lord  high  chancellor  of  England, 
was  born  A.  I).  15G1,  and  died  A.  I).  162<j.  lie  is  to  be  rewarded  as 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  any  age.  He  was  a  profound 
scholar  in  the  whole  circle  of  the  sciences,  and  is  the  first  who  re- 
formed philosophy,  by  founding  it  on  the  observation  of  Nature. 

Bacon,  Roger,  an  English  monk  of  the  thirteenth  century,  distin- 
guished for  his  discoveries  in  chemistry  and  natural  philosophy. 
For  an  account  of  him,  see  the  second  volume  of  '  Pursuit  of  Knowl- 
edge under  Difficulties,'  being  Vol.  xv.  of  «  THE  SCHOOL,  LI- 
BRARY,' Larger  Scries. 

30* 


354  GLOSSARY. 

Balize,  a  point  at  the  mouth  of  the  River  Mississippi,  about  one  hun- 
dred miles  below  New  Orleans. 

Banana,  a  luscious  and  agreeable  fruit,  about  five  inches  long,  and 
shaped  like  a  cucumber,  growing  in  the  West  Indies  and  other 
tropical  climates. 

Banditti,  (Italian,)  robbers  associated  in  organized  bands. 

Bavins  and  Jtfccvius,  two  miserable  versifiers  of  ancient  Rome,  sat- 
irized by  Virgil,  and  whose  names  have  become  provc-rbial  for  dul- 
nesa  and  stupidity. 

Bay  State,  Massachusetts,  which  was  originally  called  the  province 
of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

Beda,  or  Be.de,  surnamed  the  Venerable,  an  eminent  English  eccle- 
siastic and  writer  of  the  eighth  century,  who  was  born  about  the 
year  672,  and  died  A.  D.  735.  He  became  celebrated  for  his 
learning,  and  his  fame  spread  to  foreign  countries.  He  wrote  an 
Ecclesiastical  History,  and  translated  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  into 
the  Saxon  language. 

Bell,  (Andrew,)  an  English  gentleman,  by  whom  the  system  of  mu- 
tual, or  monitorial,  instruction  was  first  introduced  into  practice  in 
the  English  schools. 

Berkeley,  (George,)  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  in  Ireland,  and  author  of 
many  remarkable  works  on  natural  and  intellectual  philosophy, 
and  other  subjects,  was  born  March  12,  1684,  and  died  January 
14,  1753.  The  excellence  of  his  moral  character  is  conspicuous  in 
his  writings.  He  made  very  active  efforts  for  the  establishment  of 
a  college  in  the  Island  of  Bermuda,  for  "  converting  the  savage 
Americans  to  Christianity,"  and  expended  a  large  part  of  his  for- 
tune for  this  object  ;  but,  after  seven  years  of  exertion,  the  proj- 
ect failed,  for  want  of  the  assistance  promised  by  the  English  Par- 
liament. In  pursuance  of  this  plan,  he  resigned  his  preferments, 
and  sailed  with  his  family  for  Rhode  Island,  and  resided  at  New- 
port for  two  years.  He  was  a  distinguished  benefactor  to  Yale 
College,  in  New  Haven,  Connecticut. 

Black  Forest,  an  extensive  forest  in  the  mountainous  region  of  Ger- 
many, a  part  of  the  ancient  Hercynian  Forest,  which,  in  the  time 
of  Caesar,  was  nine  days'  journey  in  breadth  and  more  than  sixty 
in  length,  covering  nearly  the  whole  of  Germany. 

Blackstone,  (Sir  William,)  an  eminent  English  Judge,  and  expound- 
er of  the  laws  and  constitution  of  England.  His  great  work,  the 
'  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England,'  first  appeared  A.  D. 
1765,  and  is  still  a  standard  work. 

Bobadilla,  (Don  Francisco  de,)  was  sent  to  St.  Domingo,  in  1500, 
with  power  to  supersede  Columbus,  whom  he  sent  home  in  chains. 
He  reversed  Columbus's  mode  of  treating  the  Indians,  and  reduced 
them  to  a  state  of  complete  servitude.  See  '  Life  of  Columbus,' 
in  Vol.  i.  of '  THE  SCHOOL.  LIBRARY,'  Larger  Series. 

Boccaccio,  (Giovanni,)  an  Italian  poet  and  novelist  of  great  celebri- 
ty, who  flourished  in  the  fourteenth  century.  He  was  born,  A.  D. 
1313,  and  died,  A.  D.  1375.  He  is  best  known  by  his  '  Decame- 
ron,' a  collection  of  tales  of  the  most  various  character,  written  in 
the  most  polished  style. 

Bologna,  a  wealthy  and  populous  city  in  the  north  of  Italy. 


GLOSSART.  355 

Bonaparte,  see  Napoleon. 

Bou-.iitch,  (Nathaniel,)  the  most  eminent  mathematician  and  astron- 
omer that  America  has  produced,  was  born  in  Salem,  March  26, 
1773,  and  died  in  Boston,  March  Ifi,  1838.  He  was  a  self-edu- 
cated man.  With  limited  advantages  of  early  education,  and  en- 
gaged, through  life,  in  laborious  employments  for  the  support  of  his 
family,  he  was  enabled,  by  great  natural  endowments,  and  wise 
economy  of  time,  to  make  extensive  acquisitions  in  learning  and 
science.  His  '  Practical  Navigator'  is  the  standard  work  upon 
navigation  and  seamanship.  His  greatest  work  is  the  translation, 
in  four  volumes,  quarto,  of  the  '  Meoanique'Celeste'  (Mechanism 
of  the  Heavens)  of  La  Place,  a  distinguished  French  mathematician 
and  astronomer. 

JBowrioin  College  is  located  at  Brunswick,  in  the  State  of  Maine. 

Boyle,  (Bernardo,)  a  Benedictine  monk,  a  native  of  Catalonia,  who 
was  sent  out  to  America,  by  Queen  Isabella,  with  Columbus,  on 
his  second  voyage,  to  convert  the  heathen  natives  of  the  New 
World,  of  which  the  Pope  appointed  him  his  Apostolical  Vicar. 

British  Navigation  Act,  an  act  passed  by  the  British  Parliament,  in 
1651,  requiring  that  no  importations  should  be  made  into  England, 
except  in  English  ships,  with  English  commanders.  This  act, 
passed  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  English  trade,  was  obnoxious  to 
the  New-England  colonies,  and  was  evaded  by  them. 

Brougham,  (Henry,)  Lord,  an  eminent  living  jurist,  statesman,  and 
orator,  of  England. 

Brown  University  is  located  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island. 

Burgundy,  formerly  a  province  in  the  easterly  part  of  France. 

Burke,  (Edmund,)  an  eminent  writer,  orator,  and  statesman,  of 
Great  Britain,  was  born  A.  D.  1730,  and  died  A.  D.  1797. 

Bushmen,  a  race  of  Hottentots,  a  wild  and  miserable  people,  in- 
habiting the  western  part  of  South  Africa. 

Byzantium,  the  ancient  name  of  Constantinople. 

Cadmus,  the  name  of  several  individuals,  celebrated  in  ancient  my- 
thology and  history.  Tradition  states  that  the  most  famous  of  the 
name,  who  was  the  grandson  of  Neptune,  founded  the  Grecian  city 
of  Thebes,  and  introduced  into  Greece  the  Pho2nician  alphabet, 
about  the  year  B.  C.  600. 

Ccesar,  (Caius  Julius,)  a  very  distinguished  Roman  general,  slates- 
man,  and  historian,  born  B.  C.  100.  He  is  said  to  have  been  vic- 
tor on  five  hundred  battlefields,  and  attained  the  Dictatorship  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  with  the  title  of  Imperator,  or  Emperor.  His 
extensive  conquests  of  Spain,  Gaul,  Egypt,  and  Numidia,  raised 
the  power  of  Rome  to  an  unprecedented  height.  In  general,  he 
used  his  most  extraordinary  talents  for  the  good  of  his  country.  He 
subdued  his  enemies  more  by  his  clemency  than  by  his  sword. 
He  was  assassinated,  in  the  Capitol,  at  Rome,  by  Brutus,  Cassius, 
and  other  conspirators,  on  the  loth  of  March,  B.  C.  44,  in  the  fifty- 
sixth  year  of  his  age.  He  wrote  Commentaries  on  the  wars  in 
which  he  was  engaged,  on  the  spot  where  he  fought  his  battles  ; 
and  the  composition  has  been  admired  for  the  correctness  and  ele- 
gance of  his  style.  Czesar  was  also  the  family  name  of  the  first 
five  Roman  emperors.  With  Nero  the  family  became  extinct,  and 


GLOSSARY. 

the  term  Ccesar  became  afterwards  merely  a  title  of  imperial 
dignity. 

Calderon,  (Don  Pedro,  de  la  Barca,)  one  of  the  greatest  dramatic 
authors  of  the  Spanish  nation,  was  born  at  Madrid,  in  1601,  and 
died  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-seven  years. 

Caliph,  more  properly,  Khalif,  'a  successor,'  '  vicar,'  or  'substi- 
tute,' the  imperial  title  given  to  the  successors  of  Mohammed  in 
the  supreme  authority  of  the  Mussulman  empire. 

Callimachus,  a  Greek  poet  and  grammarian. 

Calvin,  (John,)  a  very  distinguished  reformer  and  theologian  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  was  born  at  Noyon,  in  Picardy,  July  10,  1509. 
The  numerous  followers  of  his  theological  tenets  are  generally 
styled  Calvinists.  He  lived  to  the  age  of  fifty-five  years,  and  died 
May  27,  1564. 

Cambyses,  son  of  Cyrus  the  Great,  became  King  of  the  Medes  and 
Persians,  B.  C.  530.  He  was  a  cruel,  passionate,  and  sensual 
Monarch,  and  reigned  but  eight  years. 

Camoens,  (Louis  de,)  the  most  celebrated  poet  of  the  Portuguese, 
was  born  in  Lisbon,  about  A.  D.  1527,  and  died  A.  D.  1579.  He 
has  been  styled  the  Virgil  of  Portugal.  His  great  epic  poem,  called 
the  Lusiad,  was  written  during  his  banishment  at  Macao,  in  China. 

Canonized,  originally,  declared  to  be  a  saint  ;  hence,  hallowed, 
venerable,  sacred. 

Canonry,  the  office,  and  sometimes  the  residence,  of  a  canon.  A 
canon  is  one  who  possesses  a  revenue  for  the  performance  of  Di- 
vine service  in  a  cathedral  church. 

Canova,  (Antonio,)  one  of  the  most  famous  sculptors  of  modern 
Italy,  was  born  A.  D.  1757,  and  died  in  1822.  Hia  works  are 
marked  by  grace  in  design,  and  delicacy  of  finish. 

Canton,  a  district. 

Carr,  (Robert,)  a  favorite  of  James  the  First,  of  England,  who  cre- 
ated him  Earl  of  Somerset,  in  1612. 

Carthage,  an  ancient  city  of  Africa,  founded  by  a  colony  from  Tyre, 
and  remarkable  for  its  population,  wealth,  and  power.  It  w:is, 
for  many  years,  a  rival  of  Rome  herself;  but  finally  fell  into  the 
power  of  the  Romans,  and  was  destroyed,  B.  C.  146. 

Caste,  a  tribe,  race,  or  class,  of  people,  in  the  East,  whose  occupa- 
tions, customs,  and  privileges,  are  hereditary.  There  are  four  orig- 
inal castes  among  the  Hindoos  ;  and  the  members  of  one  will  not 
even  eat  with  those  of  another. 

Castilian,  belonging  to  Castile,  a  kingdom  or  principal  province  of 
Spain  ;  and  hence  used  to  signify  Spanish.  The  phrase  "  Castil- 
ian majesty"  is  sometimes  used  to  express  the  richness  and  dignity 
of  the  Spanish  language. 

Catalepsy,  a  spasmodic  disease,  or  fit,  during  which  the  mind  and 
senses  are  entirely  inactive. 

Caucasus,  a  very  extensive  range  of  lofty  mountains  in  Western 
Asia,  between  the  Black  and  Caspian  Seas. 

Ceramicus,  one  of  the  most  considerable  and  important  parts  of  an- 
cient Athens,  divided  into  the  inner  and  outer  ;  the  former  being 
within,  and  the  latter  without,  the  walls.  The  inner  Ceramicus 
was  a  public  walk,  adorned  with  temples,  porticoes,  and  other  ed- 


GLOSSARY.  357 

ifices  ;  the  outer  Ccramicua  was  a  public  burying  ground,  which 
contained  the  remains  of  the  most  illustrious  warriors  and  states- 
men of  Athens.  The  Academy  was  at  the  extremity  of  this  burial 
ground  ;  and  the  road  to  it  was  lined,  on  either  side,  with  the  sep- 
ulchres of  Athenians  who  had  fallen  in  battle,  and  been  buried  with 
funeral  honors,  and  at  the  public  expense. 

Cervantes,  (Miguel  de,)  the  author  of  the  Adventures  of  Don  Quix- 
ote, a  very  celebrated  romance.  He  was  born  at  Madrid,  in  Spain, 
about  the  year  1547.  He  served  in  the  wars  against  the  Turks 
and  African  corsairs,  and  lost  his  left  hand  at  the  great  seafight  of 
Lepanto.  He  was  subsequently  taken  by  the  corsairs,  and  re- 
mained seven  years  in  slavery.  He  died  at  Madrid,  in  1616,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-eight. 

Ceylon,  a  large  island  in  the  Indian  Ocean. 

Chained  to  the  oar.  The  slaves  employed  to  row  the  huge  galleys,  or 
large  boats,  formerly  in  use  on  the  Mediterranean,  especially  by  the 
Venetians,  were  usually  chained  to  the  oars,  which  were  of  such 
size,  that  six  or  seven  slaves  were  required  for  each.  Hence  the 
expression  is  applied  to  any  subjection  to  a  galling  tyranny. 

Chaldeeans,  inhabitants  of  Chaldaa,  the  southerly  part  of  ancient 
Babylonia. 

Champollion,  (John  Francis,)  a  French  writer,  celebrated  for  his 
works  on  Egyptian  antiquities,  and  for  his  investigations  and  dis- 
coveries in  relation  to  Fgyptian  hieroglyphics.  He  died  at  Paris, 
in  1832,  at  the  age  of  forty-two. 

Chantrey,  (Francis,)  a  celebrated  English  sculptor.  The  statue  of 
Washington,  in  the  State  House,  Boston,  was  executed  by  him. 

Charlemagne,  or  Charles  the  Great,  was  a  celebrated  conqueror,  in 
the  middle  ages.  He  was  born  in  Bavaria,  A.  D.  742.  At  the 
decease  of  his  father,  Pepin,  King  of  the  Franks,  or  French,  he 
was  crowned  King,  A.  D.  768.  In  the  year  800,  he  was  crowned 
Emperor  of  the  West,  at  Rome.  His  victories  greatly  extended 
the  domains  of  France.  On  his  becoming  Emperor,  he  took  the 
names  of  Caesar  and  Augustus,  the  two  first  Emperors  of  Rome. 
He  was  a  wise,  politic,  and  able  prince,  and  a  great  patron  of  the 
arts  and  sciences.  He  lived  to  the  age  of  seventy-one  )  Mirs,  and 
died  January  28,  814,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  Germany,  which 
place  he  had  selected  for  his  residence. 

Charles  I.,  King  of  Great  Britain,  was  born  in  Scotland,  A.  D.  1600. 
He  was  a  prince  of  great  private  virtue  and  talent,  but  rash  and  pre- 
sumptuous in  his  political  course.  By  the  levying  of  illegal  taxes, 
and  the  oppressive  decisions  of  the  Court  of  Starchamber,  he  alien- 
ated from  him  the  Parliament  and  the  middle  classes,  with  many 
persons  of  rank  and  fortune.  The  breach  widened  to  open  war, 
and  under  Fairfax  and  Cromwell,  the  Parliament  finally  became 
victorious.  Charles  was  deposed,  tried,  and  beheaded  on  the  30th 
of  January,  1649.  He  suffered  with  great  composure  and  courage. 

Charles  V.,  Emperor  of  Germany  and  King  of  Spain,  (in  the  latter 
capacity  he  was  called  Charles  the  First,)  was  born  February  24, 
1500.  His  military  and  political  career  was  very  distinguished, 
and  he  was  a  sincere  patron  of  men  of  genius  and  learning.  At 
the  height  of  his  power,  he  abdicated  his  thrones  in  favor  of  his 


358  GLOSSARY. 

son,  and  retired  to  a  monastery,  where  he  passed  the  remainder 
of  his  days,  dying  September  21,  1558,  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of 
his  age. 

Charles  X.,  King  of  France,  and  brother  of  Louis  the  Sixteenth  and 
of  Louis  the  Eighteenth,  whom  he  succeeded,  was  born  in  1757. 
By  the  advice  of  his  ministry,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Prince 
Polignac,  he  issued  severe  edicts  against  the  liberty  of  the  press, 
and  was  finally  driven  from  the  throne,  by  the  revolution  of  July, 
1830,  and  succeeded  by  the  present  King,  Louis  Philip.  He  died 
in  1836. 

Chatham,  (William  Pitt,)  Earl  of,  an  illustrious  statesman  of  Eng- 
land, possessed  of  great  eloquence,  sagacity,  energy,  and  integrity. 
He  was  at  the  head  of  the  administration,  during  the  latter  part  of 
the  reign  of  George  the  Second,  and  the  first  year  of  that  of  George 
the  Third.  He  opposed  the  American  Revolutionary  War,  in  the 
most  brilliant  and  eloquent  speeches  of  that  or  of  any  time.  He 
was  born  November  15,  1708,  and  died  May  11,  1778. 

Checkered,  varied  or  diversified  with  brighter  or  darker  parts,  like 
the  changing  of  squares  on  a  chess-board. 

Chilian  Jlndes,  see  Andes. 

China,  Chinese  empire,  a  country  of  great  extent  in  Eastern  Asia, 
comprising  upwards  of  five  millions  of  square  miles,  and  containing 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  inhabitants.  The  gov- 
ernment is  an  absolute  monarchy.  Tea  is  the  principal  article  of 
export.  The  China  Sea  washes  the  southern  coast  of  China. 

Chloride  of  lime,  a  combination  of  lime  with  a  gas  (or  air)  called 
chlorine.  It  possesses  remarkable  powers  in  purifying  the  air,  in 
places  exposed  to  infection. 

Cholera,  a  very  fatal  disease,  which  prevailed  in  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica, during  the  years  1832  and  1833.  It  was  called  Asiatic,  being 
introduced  into  Europe  from  Asia.  In  the  city  of  Paris,  the  mor- 
tality reached  the  number  of  eight  hundred  daily. 

Christendom,  those  countries,  the  inhabitants  of  which  profess  Chris- 
tianity. 

Chronometer,  a  large  watch  or  timepiece  of  very  accurate,  construc- 
tion, UP  ,d  to  mark  time  in  astronomical  calculations. 

Cicero,  ^Marcus  Tullius,)  the  most  distinguished  writer  and  orator 
of  Rome,  contemporary  with  Antony,  Caesar,  and  Pompey.  He 
was  born  B.  C.  106.  His  greatest  political  act  was  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  conspiracy  of  Cataline.  He  was  put  to  death  by  order 
of  his  enemies  in  the  government,  at  the  age  of  sixty-four  years, 
and  his  head  and  hands  were  affixed  to  the  spot,  in  the  Roman 
Forum,  whence  his  eloquence  had  often  been  poured  forth. 

Cincinnatus,  (Lucius  Quinctius,)  a  Roman  commander,  distin- 
guished by  his  heroism,  magnanimity,  and  disinterestedness  of 
character,  was  bom  B.  C.  400.  Though  of  noble  rank,  he  sup- 
ported himself  by  cultivating  the  earth.  Summoned  from  the 
plough  to  take  the  chief  command,  he  twice  delivered  his  country 
from  great  dangers,  and  was  had  in  universal  reverence. 

Circulation  of  the  blood,  see  Hartcy. 

Clew,  thread  wound  upon  a  ball  ;  hence  a  guide,  direction,  because 
men  guide  themselves  by  a  thread  in  a  labyrinth. 


GLOSSARY.  359 

Columbia  River,  the  most  important  stream  flowing  into  the  Pacific, 
on  the  western  coast  of  North  America.  It  was  first  discovered 
and  entered  in  1791,  by  Captain  Gray,  of  ship  Columbia,  of 
Boston. 

Columbus,  (Christopher,)  the  discoverer  of  America,  born  about 
A.  D.  1435,  died  May  20,  1506.  For  his  life,  see  '  THE  SCHOOL 
LIBRARY,'  Larger  Series,  Vol.  i.,  and  Juvenile  Series,  Vol.  xi. 

Commentaries,  written  expositions  on  historical,  constitutional,  or 
legal  subjects. 

Commonwealth  of  England,  the  time  intervening  between  the  death 
of  Charles  the  First  and  the  accession  of  Charles  the  Seflbnd,  em- 
bracing the  supreme  rule  of  Parliament  and  the  Protectorate  of 
Cromwell. 

Compass,  the  mariner's,  a  magnetic  needle  (see  Magnetism)  sus- 
pended upon  a  pivot,  and  bearing  a  card,  marked  with  the  thirty- 
two  points  of  direction  into  which  the  horizon  is  divided,  and  which 
are  thence  called  the  points  of  the  compass.  Its  use  is  to  guide  the 
navigator  in  steering  his  course  upon  the  ocean.  Previous  to  its 
invention,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  the  mariner's  only  guides 
were  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  in  cloudy  weather  he  was  without 
any  thing  to  direct  his  course.  This  period,  therefore,  forms  an 
era  in  navigation,  as,  before  it,  men  dared  to  sail  only  a  short  dis- 
tance from  land. 

Constantine  the  Great,  the  first  Emperor  of  Rome  who  established 
Christianity  by  the  civil  power,  was  born  at  Naissus,  (now  Nissa,) 
a  town  of  Dardania,  or  Moesia.  A.  D.  272.  He  was  proclaimed 
Emperor  of  Rome,  A.  D.  306.  He  was  converted  to  Christianity, 
and  afterwards  became  the  sole  head  of  the  Eastern  and  Western 
empires,  A.  D.  324.  In  329,  he  founded  a  new  capital  of  the  em- 
pire, at  Byzantium,  which  was  called,  after  him,  Constantinople. 
This  city  was  the  residence  of  the  Emperors  of  the  East  till  1453, 
when  it  was  taken  by  the  Turks  ;  and  after  that,  it  became  the 
residence  of  the  Turkish  Sultans.  Constantine  reigned  thirty-one 
years,  and  died  A.  D.  337,  aged  sixty-five.  lie  put  a  stop  to  the 
persecutions  against  the  Christians,  and  allowed  entire  liberty  of 
conscience. 

Cook,  (James,)  Captain,  a  celebrated  maritime  discoverer,  born  in 
Yorkshire,  England,  November  3,  1728,  and  died  February  14, 
1779,  a  victim  to  the  fury  of  the  savage  inhabitants  of  Owhyhee, 
or  Hawai,  one  of  the  Sandwich  islands.  He  was  highly  honored, 
during  life,  as  a  man  of  science.  The  narratives  of  his  voyages 
are  no  less  valuable  to  the  geographer  than  interesting  to  the  young 
reader.  An  account  of  his  life  may  be  found  in  the  first  volume  of 
'  The  Pursuit  of  Knowledge  under  Dilliculties,'  funning  the  four- 
teenth volume  of'  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY, ''Larger  Series. 

Copernicus,  (Nicolas,)  an  eminent  astronomer,  born  at  Thorn,  in 
Prussia,  January  19,  1472.  He  revived  the  theory,  now  uni- 
versally received  and  known  to  be  true,  (according  to  which,  the 
earth  and  other  planets  revolve  round  the  sun,)  which  bad  been 
previously  discovered  by  Pythagoras  ;  before  whose  time,  the  earth 
was  supposed  to  be  stationary,  and  the  sun  and  planets  to  revolve 


360  GLOSSARY. 

around  it.  This  theory  was  neglected,  till  its  revival  by  Coperni- 
cus ;  and  it  has  since  been  called,  '  the  Copernican  theory,'  and 
the  system,  '  the  Copernican  system.'  For  a  notice  of  the  death 
of  Copernicus,  see  pages  236—238. 

Cordilleras,  a  range  of  mountains  in  Mexico,  the  continuation  of  the 
chain  of  the  Jlndes. 

Corneille,  (Peter,)  one  of  the  earliest  and  greatest  writers  of  French 
tragedy,  was  born,  A.  D.  1606,  and  died,  A.  D.  1684. 

Coronation,  (from  corona,  a  crown,)  the  ceremony  of  crowning  a 
king,  queen,  or  other  kingly  potentate. 

Corpus,  ^Latin,)  a  body  ;  a  collection  of  works  on  similar  subjects. 

Cortes,  (Fernando,)  the  Spanish  conqueror  of  Mexico,  was  born, 
A.  D.  1485.  His  name  is  eminent  for  bravery  and  ability,  but 
infamous  for  cruelty  and  perfidy.  Guatimozin,  the  Emperor  of 
Mexico,  was  subjected,  under  his  orders,  to  horrid  tortures,  to 
force  a  disclosure  of  concealed  treasures,  and  afterwards  execu- 
ted. Cortes  lived  to  the  age  of  sixty-three  years.  His  Life  may 
be  found  in  the  twelfth  volume  of  the  Juvenile  Series  of  THE 
SCHOOL  LIBRARY.' 

Cotton-gin,  see  Whitney. 

Cover,  a.  plate. 

Crafts,  see  Guilds. 

Crassuses.  There  were  two  distinguished  Romans  named  Crassus. 
The  first,  Lucius,  the  most  eminent  orator  of  his  day,  was  made 
consul,  (chief  magistrate,)  B.  C.  96.  The  latter,  Marcus,  a  man 
of  immense  wealth,  was  a  member  of  the  first  triumvirate,  (or 
government  by  three  magistrates,  equal  in  power,)  with  C«esar 
and  Pompey,  and  died  B.  C.  53. 

Crocodile,  an  enormous  reptile,  inhabiting  the  Nile,  and  other  rivers 
of  Africa.  The  alligator,  found  in  the  warmer  parts  of  America, 
.  is  a  species  of  the  crocodile. 

Cromwell,  (Oliver,)  Protector  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland,  was  born  A.  D.  1599.  He  was  actively  en- 
gaged in  the  civil  war  during  the  reign  of  Charles  the  First,  as  a 
member  of  Parliament,  and  a  military  leader.  He  took  a  conspic- 
uous part  in  the  execution  of  Charles  ;  and,  as  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  army  of  the  republican  party,  opposed  and  defeated 
his  son,  afterwards  Charles  the  Second.  He  became  sole  govern- 
or, with  the  title  of  Lord  Protector,  in  1653,  and  retained  that 
office  till  his  death,  in  1658.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  abili- 
ties, as  a  statesman  and  a  general. 

Cross  the  emblem  of  Christianity.  The  term,  '  soldiers  of  the  cross,' 
is  applied,  both  to  the  warriors,  who,  in  the  middle  ages,  fought 
for  the  recovery  of  Palestine  from  the  Mohammedans,  and  to  the 
peaceful  missionaries  of  modern  times. 

Cuvier,  Baron,  the  most  eminent  naturalist  of  the  present  age,  was 
born,  A.  D.  1769,  and  died,  A.  D.  1832.  He  was  Professor  of 
Natural  History  in  the  College  of  France,  and  held  various  impor- 
tant posts  in  the  French  Government,  at  different  times.  His  works 
on  Natural  History  are  of  the  greatest  value. 

Cycloidal  curve,  or  cycloid,  that  curve  which  is  formed  by  any  one 


GLOSSARY.  361 

point  in  the  circumference  of  a  circle,  supposed  to  roll  upon  a 
straight  line.  Thus,  each  point  in  a  carriage  wheel  or  hoop,  in 
motion,  is  constantly  describing  cycloids. 

Cyrene,  an  ancient  city  in  the  north  of  Africa.  Its  ruins  are  an  ob- 
ject of  interest  in  modern  times. 

Czar,  a  title  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  derived,  like  the  German 
Kaiser,  (emperor,)  from  the  word  Cx-sar,  (which  see.) 

Dante,  (properly  Durante  Alighieri,)  a  celebrated  Italian  scholar 
and  Epic  Poet,  born  at  Florence,  Italy,  A.  D.  1265.  His  Divina 
Commcdia  (Sacred  Poem)  is  in  three  parts,  LTnferno,  II  Para- 
diso,  and  //  Pnr^atorio,  (Hell,  Heaven,  and  Purgatory,)  and  is 
a  grand  monument  of  his  sublime  genius.  (See  page  265.)  He 
was  a  soldier  and  statesman  as  well  as  an  author.  He  died  A.  D. 
1321,  after  a  life  of  great  vicissitudes. 

Darius,  King  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  was  a  wise,  just,  and  able 
prince.  Though  at  the  head  of  immense  armies,  he  was  repeated- 
ly defeated  by  Alexander  the  Great.  He  was  treacherously  slain, 
by  traitors  of  his  own  army,  B.  C.  330,  at  thp  age  of  fifty  years. 

Dartmouth  College,  located  at  Hanover,  New  Hampshire. 

Davy,  Sir  Humphrey,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  chemists  of 
the  age,  was  born  in  Cornwall,  England,  A.  D.  1779.  His  discov- 
eries with  the  Voltaic  battery,  (see  Galvanism,)  his  decomposition 
of  alkalies,  ascertaining  their  metallic  bases  ;  and  his  invention  of 
the  miner's  safety  lamp,  have  obtained  him  a  deserved  reputation. 
He  died  in  1829.  See  page  136,  and  also  the  second  volume  of 
'  Pursuit  of  Knowledge  under  Difficulties,'  forming  the  fifteenth 
volume  of «  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY,'  Larger  Series. 

Dead  language,  a  language  not  spoken  by  any  living  nation  ;  such 
as  the  Latin  and  ancient  Greek. 

Decamerone,  see  Boccaccio. 

December  twenty-second,  see  Plymouth, 

Delfthavcn,  a  small  town  in  Holland. 

Delphi,  the  seat  of  the  most  celebrated  oracle  in  ancient  Greece, 
situated  on  the  southern  side  of  Mount  Parnassus.  The  temple, 
where  the  oracles  were  delivered,  was  sacred  to  Apollo. 

Democratic,  democracy,  populace. 

Demosthenes,  the  greatest  popular  orator  of  antiquity,  was  born  at 
Athens,  B.  C.  375.  He  overcame,  by  great  exertions  and  labo- 
rious perseverance,  the  natural  disadvantages  of  weak  lungs,  a 
shrill  voice,  and  an  imperfect  utterance.  His  orations  are  elabo- 
rate but  masterly  efforts.  He  opposed,  with  consummate  address 
and  eloquence,  the  ambition  of  Philip,  King  of  Macedon,  who  at- 
tempted to  enslave  Greece.  He  died  by  poison,  at  about  the  age 
of  sixty  years,  not  choosing  to  surrender  himself  into  the  hands  of 
the  Macedonians. 

Despotism,  A  form  of  government,  in  which  the  power  of  the  ruler, 
or  despot,  is  unlimited  ;  hence,  also,  it  signifies  oppression,  or  tyr- 
anny. 

Diapason,  a  chord  which  includes  all  tones  ;  an  octave  ;  a  term  ap- 
plied to  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  numerous  classes  of  pipes 
which  make  up  a  complete  organ. 

31  E.  E. 


362  GLOSSARY. 

Dictator,  a  magistrate  of  ancient  Rome,  chosen  only  upon  great 
emergencies,  and  possessing  almost  uncontrolled  power.  The  of- 
fice was  very  limited  in  duration. 

Dikes,  dams  ;  masses  or  mounds  of  earth  or  other  solid  material, 
built  up  as  barriers  against  the  water  of  a  river  or  sea.  A  great 
portion  of  Holland  is  redeemed  from  the  ocean,  by  means  of  im- 
mense dikes. 

Dieskau,  Baron,  commander  of  a  body  of  French  troops  in  Canada, 
in  the  war  of  1755.  He  was  mortally  wounded  at  the  battle  of 
Lake  George,  September  8,  1755,  but  lived  to  reach  England, 
where  he  died  of  his  wounds. 

Diorama,  a  perspective  view  of  any  historical  scene,  or  of  natural 
scenery,  on  a  large  scale,  and  with  the  light  so  arranged,  as  to  give 
a  most  vivid  and  natural  representation.  A  succession  of  such  pic- 
tures is  sometimes  caused  to  pass,  by  machinery,  before  the  eye 
of  the  spectator. 

Distaff,  a  staff  or  stick  on  which  the  flax  was  wound,  and  from 
which  it  was  drawn,  in  the  old  mode  of  spinning. 

Divina  Commedia,  see  Dante. 

Dole,  a  gratuity  ;  provisions  or  money  distributed  in  charity. 

Dome,  the  vaulted  roof  of  a  public  building.  For  descriptions  of  va- 
rious domes,  see  'The  Useful  Arts,'  Vol.  i.,  being  Vol.  xi.,  of 
'  THE  SCHOOL,  LIBRARY,'  Larger  Series. 

Dorian,  or  Doric,  belonging  to  the  Dorian  race,  or  of  a  style  com- 
mon to  that  race.  This  race  was  one  of  the  great  branches  of  the 
ancient  Greek  nation.  The  Dorian  mood,  or  mode,  was  one  of 
the  modes  of  arranging  the  musical  scale,  of  which  there  were  sev- 
eral in  ancient  music. 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  a  distinguished  English  navigator  and  naval 
commander,  born  A.  D.  1545,  and  died  A.  D.  1596.  He  intro- 
duced the  potato  plant  from  America  into  Europe. 

Driftwood,  trees,  logs,  or  other  pieces  of  wood,  which  float  down 
rivers,  or  in  the  sea. 

Dryden,  (John,)  an  eminent  English  poet,  was  born,  A.  D.  1631, 
and  died  A.  D.  1700.  His  great  power  and  melody  of  versifica- 
tion are  strongly  shown  in  his  translation  of  Virgil.  During  the 
latter  years  of  his  life,  having  lost,  under  King  William  the  Third, 
the  pensions  and  places  which  he  held  under  King  James  the  Sec- 
ond, he  was  obliged  to  write  for  bread,  and  at  so  much  a  line. 
His  '  Fables'  contain  some  of  his  most  poetical  pieces. 

Dunster,  (Henry,)  the  first  President  of  Harvard  College,  where  he 
presided  from  A.  D.  1640,  till  his  death  in  1659. 

East-India  Company,  (the  British,)  a  company  of  London  mer- 
chants, chartered  A.  D.  1600,  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  gave  them 
the  exclusive  right  to  the  commerce  of  India  for  fifteen  years.  The 
Company,  successively  rechartered,  gradually  attained  great  pow- 
er and  wealth,  and  finally,  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  by 
the  civil  and  military  genius  of  the  celebrated  Lord  Clive,  gained 
almost  absolute  control  over  the  immense  empire  of  Hindostan. 
Many  officers  and  agents  of  the  Company,  before  and  after  Clive, 
displayed,  throughout,  the  greatest  rapacity,  enriching  themselves 
at  the  expense  of  the  unhappy  Natives,  who  were  alternately  pil- 


GLOSSARY.  363 

lagcd  and  oppressed  by  the  English  and  their  native  masters.  The 
charter  of  the  Company  was  last  renewed  in  1834,  with  certain 
restrictions,  calculated  to  secure  great  advantages  to  the  people  of 
India. 

Egyptian,  belonging  to  Egypt,  a  country  in  the  northeastern  part 
of  Africa,  remarkable  for  its  stupendous  remains  of  ancient  archi- 
tecture, such  as  pyramids,  temples,  &c. 

El  Dorado,  '  the  golden.'  Some  of  the  Spaniards,  who  came  to 
America  with  Pizarro,  on  returning  to  Europe,  excited  the  curios- 
ity and  cupidity  of  Europeans,  by  fictitious  accounts  of  a  region  in 
the  New  World,  called  El  Dorado,  where  gold  and  precious  stones 
were  as  abundant  as  rocks  and  sand  in  other  countries.  A  map 
and  description  of  this  fabulous  country  was  published  as  late  as 
about  the  year  1600. 

Electricity,  a  very  subtile  elastic  fluid,  which  pervades  the  material 
universe.  Lightning  is  the  sensible  appearance  of  the  electric 
fluid. 

Electro-magnetic,  connected  with  electro-magnetism,  a  branch  of 
natural  philosophy,  which  investigates  the  effects  produced  upon 
magnetic  bodies  by  currents  of  electricity. 

Elisabeth,  Queen,  the  daughter  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  by  Anne  Bo- 
leyn.  She  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  England,  after  the  death 
of  her  sister  Mary,  A.  D.  1558.  Though  capricious  in  her  feel- 
ings, and  arbitrary  in  her  femper,  she  manifested  great  sagacity 
and  energy  in  the  conduct  of  pufilic  affairs  ;  and,  under  her  long 
reign,  England  constantly  increased  in  wealth  and  power.  The 
greatest  stain  upon  her  character  was  the  execution,  by  her  war- 
rant, of  her  cousin,  Queen  Mary  of  Scotland,  then  a  prisoner  in 
England.  Queen  Elizabeth  died,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years, 
A.  D. 1602. 

Ellsworth,  (Oliver,)  an  American  judge  and  statesman,  was  born 
in  Connecticut,  April  29,  1745,  and  died  November  26,  1807. 
He  took  an  active  part  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  was  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress  during  part  of  the  war,  and  in  1796  became  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

Empyreal,  pertaining  to  the  highest  and  purest  region  of  heaven. 

Encyclopedists,  school  of.  This  term  is  applied  to  those  who  were 
engaged  in  preparing  the  great  encyclopaedia,  (universal  dictionary 
of  knowledge,)  published  in  France,  about  A.  D.  1750.  This  work 
had  an  immense  influence  upon  the  literature,  philosophy,  and  pol- 
itics, of  the  age,  and,  in  many  respects,  a  most  unfavorable  one. 
Many  of  these  writers,  as  stated  on  page  243,  were  "  notorious  for 
their  disbelief  of  revealed  religion." 

English  Church,  or  Established  Church,  the  Episcopal  form  of 
church  government, — by  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons,  as  estab- 
lished in  England. 

En  masse,  (French,)  in  a  body. 

Ennius,  an  ancient  Roman  poet,  of  whose  writings  only  fragments 
remain.  He  wrote  '  Annals'  of  Rome,  from  the  earliest  times  to 
his  own,  in  heroic  verse. 

Epaminondas,  a  famous  hero  of  Thebes,  a  city  of  Bceotia,  in  ancient 
Greece.  He  distinguished  himself,  in  the  wars  between  Thebei 


364  GLQ^SARY. 

and  Sparta  ;  and,  as  general  of  the  Thebans,  defeated  the  Spar- 
tans, whose  force  was  much  superior  to  his  own,  at  Leuctra,  a  vil- 
lage of  Bccotia,  B.  C.  378.  lie  fell  at  the  battle  of  Mantinea,  in 
Arcadia,  B  C.  363,  being  then  forty-eight  years  old. 

Epicurus,  an  ancient  Greek  philosopher,  who  lived  about  B.  C.  300. 
He  taught  that  the  chief  good  consists  in  a  happiness  springing 
from  virtue.  His  own  life  was  temperate  and  pure.  But  his  doc- 
trine became  perverted,  and  the  Epicureans,  his  followers,  came  to 
regard  happiness  as  the  result  of  sensual  enjoyment. 

Epos,  (Greek,)  a  song  ;  a  poem  describing  heroic  deeds  or  historical 
events. 

Erasmus,  (Desiderius,)  an  eminent  scholar  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
was  born  at  Rotterdam,  October  28,  1467.  He  possessed  taste 
and  wit,  and  his  writings  exhibit  a  graceful  style  ;  but  his  cautious 
prudence  rendered  him  less  zealous  than  many  of  his  friends  could 
have  wished,  in  the  cause  of  the  Reformation.  His  works  occupy 
ten  folio  volumes.  He  died  July  12, 1536,  in  the  sixty-ninth  year 
of  his  age. 

Euphrates,  one  of  the  largest  rivers  of  Asia,  which  rises  in  the 
mountains  of  Armenia,  and  flows  into  the  Persian  Gulf.  It  has 
been  celebrated  from  the  most  ancient  times,  being  mentioned  in 
Genesis  ii.  14,  as  one  of  the  rivers  of  the  Garden  of  Eden. 

Eustathius,  a  very  learned  Grecian  monk,  bishop,  and  scholar,  of 
the  twelfth  century.  He  was  born  at  Constantinople,  but  when, 
it  is  not  known.  He  was  alive,  however,  A.  D.  1194. 

Euxine,  the  ancient  name  for  the  Black  Sea. 

Faneuil  Hall,  an  edifice  in  Boston,  used  for  public  meetings  and 
similar  purposes.  It  was  erected  at  the  expense  of  Peter  Fancuil, 
and  by  him  given  to  the  town  of  Boston,  in  1740,  for  a  town  hall 
and  market  house.  It  is  often  called  the  '  cradle  of  American 
Liberty,'  having  been  the  scene  of  many  of  the  earliest  debates  and 
resolves  in  opposition  to  the  oppressions  of  England. 

Fee  simple,  a  term  in  English  law.  The  person  who  owns  a  landed 
estate,  free  from  incumbrances,  is  said  to  hold  it  in  fee  simple. 

Fesole,  (properly,  Fiesole,)  a  city  of  Italy,  near  Florence. 

Feudal  system,  the  name  given  to  the  system  of  rights  and  obliga- 
tions subsisting  between  lords  and  their  vassals,  in  Europe,  during 
the  middle  ages.  The  vassal  (subject)  held  his  fee  or  feud  (pos- 
session, estate)  from  the  lord,  subject  to  certain  obligations,  such 
as  that  of  bearing  arms  in  the  service  of  his  lord.  Both  smaller 
domains  and  whole  kingdoms  were  governed  upon  this  feudal  ba- 
sis, the  king  being  the  feudal  chief  of  the  lords,  as  these  were,  in 
turn,  of  their  tenants  and  vassals. 

Flavian  house,  the  house,  or  family,  to  which  the  Roman  Emperors 
Vespasian,  Titus,  and  Doinitian,  belonged  ;  their  family  name  be- 
ing Flavius. 

Florentine,  belonging  to  Florence,  an  Italian  city,  remarkable  for 
its  rich  collections  of  works  of  art. 

Forum,  a  public  place,  in  ancient  Rome,  where  assemblies  of  the 
people  were  held.  It  was  surrounded  by  porticoes,  and  adorned 
with  statues.  Here  courts  were  held  for  the  administration  of 


GLOSSARY.  365 

- 

justice.  Hence  the  word  forum  is  used  to  designate  political  as- 
semblies, or  political  and  judicial  business. 

Fossil  plants.  The  name  fossil  is  given  to  such  animal  or  vegetable 
substances,  as  are  found  imbedded  in  any  of  the  mineral  strata 
(layers)  of  which  the  crust  of  the  earth  is  formed.  Thus  we  have 
fossil  shells,  fossil  bones,  &c. 

Franklin,  (Benjamin.)  This  celebrated  philosopher,  patriot,  and 
statesman,  was  born  January  17,  1706,  jn  Boston,  where  he  was 
educated  a  printer.  He  afterwards  published  a  newspaper  in 
Philadelphia.  He  tool?  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  Revolutionary 
struggle  with  Great  Britain,  filled  the  office  of  postmaster-general, 
of  provincial  and  colonial  agent  and  representative  in  Great  Brit- 
ain, and,  subsequently,  of  ambassador  to  France.  IJis  philosoph- 
ical discoveries  and  inventions  were  of  the  most  striking  kind.  He 
proved  the  identity  of  electricity  with  lightning,  (see  page  82,) 
and  invented  the  lightning  rod,  now  universally  used  for  the  pro- 
tection of  buildings.  His  numerous  writings  are  marked  by  prac- 
tical wisdom,  strength,  and  humor.  His  manners  were  simple  and 
unaffected  ;  his  conversation  rich  in  instruction  and  anecdote.  He 
died  in  171)0,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four.  His  life  will  be  found  in 
one  of  the  volumes  of 'THE  SCHOOL,  LIBRARY.' 

Frederic  the  Second,  the  third  King  of  Prussia,  called  Fret/eric  the 
Great,  was  the  most  distinguished  Monarch  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. He  was  born  January  24,  171^5.  He  possessed  great  milita- 
ry genius,  was  fond  of  literature  and  of  the  conversation  of  literary 
men,  and  was  an  encourager  of  the  arts,  agriculture,  and  manufac- 
tures. Like  Caesar,  he  united  the  talents  of  a  writer  with  those  of 
a  warrior,  and  was  author  of  numerous  works,  the  collection  of 
which  occupies  nineteen  volumes.  Prussia  flourished  during  his 
reign,  and  the  number  of  his  subjects  was  trebled.  He  died  Au- 
gust 17,  178fi,  in  the  seventy-fifth  year  of  his  life,  and  the  forty- 
seventh  of  his  reign,  leaving  more  than  seventy  millions  of  Prussian 
dollars  in  the  treasury,  and  a  standing  army  of  two  hundred  thous- 
and men. 

French  Jlcademy,  an  association  of  literary  men,  formed  A.  D.  1629, 
and  consisting  of  forty  members.  It  has  exerted  a  remarkable 
authority  in  matters  connected  with  criticism  and  language,  and 
has  published,  among  other  works,  a  valuable  dictionary  of  the 
French  language.  Its  critical  judgements  have  not  always  been 
ratified  by  the  opinion  of  posterity. 

French  Revolution,  the  overthrow  of  royal  power  in  France^  and  the 
establishment  of  a  republic,  in  1792.  The  destruction  of  the  Bas- 
tille, (a  fortified  prison,)  the  deposition  and  execution  of  King  Lou- 
is the  Sixteenth,  and  the  massacres  of  the  royalists  during  the 
period  called  the  reign  of  terror,  are  among  the  most  prominent 
acts  of  this  great  tragic  drama. 

Fulton,  (Robert.)  For  a  biography  of  this  eminent  engineer  and 
mechanist,  to  whom  the.  world  is  indebted  for  the  first  successful 
application  of  steam-power  to  navigation,  see  the  fourth  volume  of 
•THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY,'  Larger  Series. 

Furtively,  secretly,  by  stealth. 

31* 


366  GLOSSARY. 

Galaxy,  (milky  way,)  a  long,  bright  track  or  belt  of  light  in  the 
sky,  formed  by  innumerable  stars  of  small  apparent  magnitude. 

Galileo,  (Galilei,)  an  eminent  astronomer,  mathematician,  and  nat- 
ural philosopher,  who  was  born  in  Florence,  (some  say  at  Pisa,) 
a  city  of  Tuscany,  in  Italy,  February  19,  1564.  II«  made  impor- 
tant discoveries  and  observations  in  relation  to  the  laws  of  the  pen- 
dulum, of  falling  bodies,  and  of  the  magnet.  On  hearing  that  an 
instrument  had  been  discovered  in  Holland,  by  which  distant  ob- 
jects could  be  easily  perceived,  his  curiosity  was  excited,  and  the 
result  of  his  investigations  was  the  invention  of  the  telescope,  with- 
out having  ever  seen  the  Dutch  glass.  He  afterwards  much  im- 
proved the  instrument,  and  made  the  first  practical  application  of  it 
to  astronomy.  His  discoveries  with  this  instrument  completely 
established  the  truth  of  the  system  of  Copernicus,  (which  see.) 
But  for  the  very  works  in  which  these  discoveries  were  promulgat- 
ted,  he  was  denounced  by  the  Jesuits,  (an  order  of  Roman  Catholic 
priests,)  as  a  heretic.  He  suffered  great  cruelties,  was  confined  in 
the  dungeons  of  the  Inquisition,  and  condemned  to  recant  his  belief 
in  the  great  truths  which  he  had  proclaimed.  His  last  years  were 
passed  in  banishment,  and  embittered  by  pain,  deafness,  and  blind- 
ness ;  but  his  mind  was  still  actively  devoted  to  the  studies  which 
he  loved,  and  which  he  had  done  so  much  to  advance.  He  died 
January  8,  1642,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  his  age. 

Gallia,  the  ancient  name  ofTrance. 

Gallican  Church,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  France,  which 
dates  the  origin  of  its  independence  of  the  power  of  the  Pope  from 
the  time  of  Philip  the  Fourth,  (the  Fair,)  who  subjected  the  French 
clergy  to  bear  their  share  of  the  public  taxes,  prohibited  all  contri- 
butions to  be  levied  by  the  Pope  in  his  dominions,  and  made  war 
upon  Pope  Boniface  the  Eighth.  This  resistance  to  Papal  power 
is  termed  (page  56)  the  Catholic  Reformation,  in  allusion  to  the 
great  Protestant  Reformation,  commenced  by  Luther. 

Galvanism,  a  principle  or  agent  of  a  similar  nature  with  electricity, 
discovered  A.  D.  1790,  by  Galvani,  professor  of  anatomy  at  Bo- 
logna, in  Italy,  (see  page  83.)  It  is  developed  by  the  contact  of  dif- 
ferent substances,  particularly  the  metals  copper  and  zinc.  When 
several  plates  of  these  metals  are  immersed  in  a  trough  of  diluted 
acid,  they  form  what  is  called  a  Galvanic  Battery,  (also  called 
Voltaic  Battery,  from  its  inventor,  Volta,  professor  at  Pavia,  Ita- 
ly, who  made  many  important  researches  in  Galvanism.)  By  this 
apparatus,  great  light  and  heat  are  produced,  the  hardest  miner- 
als melted,  and  compound  bodies  decomposed. 

Gengis  Khan,  a  celebrated  conqueror,  the  Khan  (or  King)  of  the 
Mongols,  a  great  nation  in  the  northeast  of  Asia.  He  conquered 
Tartary  and  China,  and  extended  his  devastations  to  most  of  Asia 
and  a  part  of  Europe.  This  scourge  of  the  human  race  died  A.  D. 
1227. 

Genius.  The  ancients  believed  that  every  man  was  under  the  pro- 
tection of  a  spiritual  being,  termed  his  guardian  genius.  The 
idea  was  extended,  and  thus  we  read  of  the  '  Genius  of  human  na- 
ture,' the  '  Genius  of  Greece'  or  Rome.  The  geniuses  or  genii 
(properly,  jinnees)  of  the  East  were  regarded  as  superhuman 


GLOSSARY.  367 

beings,  grosser  than  angels,  and  more  powerful  than  men.  See 
Aladdin. 

Genoese,  belonging  to  Genoa,  a  city  in  the  north  of  Italy,  on  the 
Mediterranean  Sea. 

Gcns-d'armes,  soldiers  employed  as  police  officers  in  France. 

Ghibelline.  A  war  was  carried  on  in  Italy  and  Germany  in  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  between  two  parties,  or  factions, 
called  the  Guelphs  and  the  Ghibdlines ;  the  former  of  which 
fought  for  the  supremacy  of  the  Popes  and  the  independence  of  the 
cities  of  Italy,  and  the  latter  supported  the  cause  of  the  Emperors 
of  Germany. 

Girard,  (Stephen,)  a  merchant,  who  died  at  Philadelphia,  in  1831, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-four,  leaving  a  fortune  of  eleven  or  twelve 
millions  of  dollars,  a  large  portion  of  which  was  devoted  by  him  to 
the  erection  and  endowment  of  a  College  for  "poor  white  male 
orphans,"  in  Philadelphia.  His  early  history  is  noticed  on  page 
321.  The  building  destined  for  the  Girard  College  is  not  yet 
completed,  (1840.)  The  amount  expended  upon  it,  up  to  the 
first  of  January,  1840,  amounted  to  one  million  one  hundred  and 
ten  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty-four  dollars  and  sixty-four 
cents. 

Glaciers,  vast  fields  of  ice,  found  in  mountainous  regions  and  in  the 
frozen  zone. 

Gathe,  (John  Wolfgang  von,)  a  German  poet  and  author,  who  was 
born  A.  D.  1749,  and  died  in  1832.  From  about  the  year  1776, 
till  his  death,  he  resided  at  Weimar,  loved  and  cherished  by  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Weimar,  whose  prime  minister  lie  was  for  many 
years.  His  works  are  numerous,  comprising  poems,  novels,  dra- 
mas, and  critical  and  scientific  essays.  He  maintained  for  many 
years,  by  the  acknowledgement  of  his  contemporaries,  the  highest 
place  in  German  literature,  and  is  regarded  by  his  admirers  as 
'"  the  first  man  of  his  nation  and  time." 

Great  Western,  the  name  of  one  of  the  earliest  steam-ships  which 
crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  which  still  continues  to  run  between 
England  and  New  York. 

Greene,  (Nathaniel))  born  in  Warwick,  Rhode  Island,  A.  D.  1742, 
was  one  of  the  major-generals  in  the  American  army,  during  the 
Revolutionary  War.  The  son  of  a  blacksmith,  he  was  indebted 
to  his  own  exertions  for  his  education.  His  life  is  to  be  read  in 
the  history  of  the  American  Revolution.  He  was  remarkable  for 
personal  courage,  resolute  firmness  of  mind,  prudence,  and  judge- 
ment. He  died  at  tin-  ag!'  of  forty-four,  June  19,  1786. 

Grecnlandcrs,  inhabitants  of  Greenland,  an  extensive  country  in  the 
north  part  of  North  America,  belonging  to  Denmark. 

Grotius,  (Hugo,)  or  Hugo  tie  Groot,  a  profound  scholar  and  most 
able  statesman,  who  was  horn  at  Delft,  in  Holland,  April  10,  1583, 
and  died  August  28,  1645.  liis  works  on  theology  and  on  natural 
and  national  law  have  enjoyed  a  wide  and  great  reputation. 

Guatimozin,  see  Cortes. 

Guicciardini,  (Francis,)  a  celebrated  Italian  historian,  was  born  at 
Florence,  March  6,  1482,  and  died  May  27,  1540.  He  was  emi- 
nent as  a  jurist,  and  held  several  important  offices  under  the  Papal 


368  GLOSSARY. 

government.  His  great  work  is  a  history  of  Italy  from  1490  to 
1534. 

Guilds,  or  crafts,  associations  for  carrying  on  commerce,  or  some 
particular  trade,  fully  described  in  pages  85  and  86,  of  this  vol- 
ume. 

Gypsum,  or  sulphate  of  lime,  a  mineral  of  great  importance.  One 
form  of  it  is  alabaster,  employed,  from  its  whiteness  and  beauty, 
for  statuary  and  ornaments  ;  another  is  plaster  of  Paris,  employed 
for  the  fine  plastering  in  the  finishing  of  walls  and  ceilings,  and  of 
great  use  as  a  manure  for  land.  See  the  first  volume  of  '  The 
Useful  Arts,'  being  the  eleventh  volume  of  'THE  SCHOOL,  LI- 
BRARY,' Larger  Series. 

Hamilton,  (Alexander,)  one  of  Washington's  aids-de-camp  in  the 
Revolutionary  War,  distinguished  for  his  bravery,  and  for  the 
confidence  reposed  in  him  hy  the  Commander-in-chief.  After  the 
war,  he  practised  law,  with  success,  in  New  York,  and  was  after- 
wards an  active  member  of  the  Convention  for  framing  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States.  On  the  organization  of  the  Federal 
Government,  in  1789,  he  was  made  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
which  post  he  held  for  five  years,  when  he  retired  to  private  life. 
He  fell  in  a  duel  with  Colonel  Aaron  Burr,  July  11,  1804,  at  the 
age  of  forty-seven  years. 

Hanse  towns,  (from  the  old  German  word  hansa,  a  league,)  the 
name  given  to  a  large  number  of  European  cities  and  towns,  which 
were  leagued  together,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  for  the  promotion 
and  protection  of  commerce. 

Harvey,  (William,)  an  English  physician,  the  discoverer  of  the  cir- 
culation of  the  blood,  was  born  at  Folkstone,  England,  April  2, 
1578,  and  died  in  London,  June  3,  1657. 

Heber,  (Reginald,)  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  and  celebrated  as  well  for 
his  talents  and  learning  as  for  his  zealous  efforts  to  Christianize  the 
inhabitants  of  India,  was  born  in  Malpas,  England,  April  21,  1783, 
and  died  in  India,  April  23,  1826.  He  was  a  beautiful  poet, 
and  writer  and  editor  of  many  valuable  works. 

Hebrew,  the  language  of  the  Jews. 

Henry  IV.,  King  of  France,  from  A.  D.  1594  till  his  death  in 
1610,  was  a  Prince  of  an  heroic  and  noble  mind,  whose  great 
achievements  have  gained  him  lasting  renown,  while  his  benevo- 
lent love  for  his  subjects  has  endeared  his  memory  to  the  nation. 

Henry  VIII.,  King  of  England,  was  born  A.  D.  1491,  and  came 
to  the  throne  in  1509.  His  reign  is  remarkable  for  the  spread  of 
the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  in  England,  which  was  in  a  great 
measure  owing  to  the  breaking  off",  by  Henry,  of  his  allegiance  to 
the  Pope.  The  Pope  had  excommunicated  the  King,  (that  is, 
declared  him  to  be  deprived  of  the  privileges  of  Christian  commu- 
nion,) on  account  of  his  marriage  with  Ann  Boleyn  ;  and  Henry 
declared  himself  the  supreme  head  of  the  English  Church.  He 
was  passionate  and  intolerant,  inhuman  and  arbitrary,  fond  of 
power,  and  inconstant  in  his  aifections.  He  died  in  1547. 

Heroic  age,  or  period,  that  early  period,  to  which  are  to  be  referred 
the  heroes,  who  were  celebrated,  in  Grecian  poetry  and  tradition, 
for  wisdom,  strength,  and  courage,  who  were  regarded  as  a  clasi 


GLOSSARY.  369 

intermediate  between  men  and  gods,  and  to  whom  divine  honors 
were  often  paid. 

Herschel,  (Sir  William,)  an  eminent  astronomer,  remarkable  for  his 
unwearied  devotion  to  observations  of  the  heavens,  for  the  con- 
struction of  large  and  powerful  telescopes,  which  enabled  him 
greatly  to  enlarge  the  catalogue  of  known  stars,  and  for  his  dis- 
covery of  the  planet  which  has  received  his  name,  was  born  in 
1738,  and  died  in  1822.  His  son,  John  F.  W.  Herschel,  is  also 
a  distinguished  astronomer. 

Hesiod,  an  ancient  Greek  poet,  supposed  to  have  lived  about  four 
hundred  years  before  Christ. 

Hesperian,  literally,  western,  from  Hesper,  the  setting  sun.  The 
ancient  Greeks  gave  the  name  Hesperia  to  Italy,  the  Italians  to 
Spain  ;  and  it  was  also  applied  to  certain  islands  in  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  The  name  Hesperus  was  also  applied  to  Venus,  when 
she  appeared  after  the  setting  of  the  sun. 

Hierarchy,  literally,  a  sacred  government  ;  a  priesthood,  an  eccle- 
siastical establishment. 

Hieroglyphics,  sacred  engravings.  The  scufpture  and  inscriptions 
on  ancient  Egyptian  monuments  were  so  called,  because  supposed 
to  be  intelligible  to  the  priests  alone  ;  the  word  is  also  applied  to 
any  writing  by  pictures. 

Hindoos,  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  the  East  Indies,  Hindostan,  or 
Hindoo-stan  ;  a  very  ancient  and  numerous  race,  remarkable  for 
their  custom  of  requiring  widows  to  burn  themselves  upon  the  fu- 
neral piles  of  their  husbands,  and  for  their  division  into  castes, 

Hindostan,  or  Hindoo-stan,  the  country  of  the  Hindoos,  an  extensive 
region  in  the  south  of  Asia. 

Hispaniola,  (Little  Spain,)  the  name  giv'en  by  Columbus  to  one  of 
the  West-India  Islands  discovered  on  his  first  voyage  over  the  At- 
lantic, but  which  has  been  since  called  St.  Domingo,  and  Hayti. 

Hobbes,  (Thomas,)  a  celebrated  moral  and  political  writer  and  phi- 
losopher of  the  seventeenth  century. 

Homer,  a  very  ancient  Greek  poet,  and  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
of  any  age.  Little  is  known  about  his  life.  He  is  supposed  to 
have  lived  about  B.  C.  900.  His  two  great  poems  are  the  Iliad,  de- 
scribing some  scenes  in  the  siege  of  Troy  by  the  Greeks  ;  and  the 
Odyssey,  which  celebrates  the  adventures  of  Ulysses,  one  of  the 
Grecian  chiefs. 

Homeric,  of,  or  relating  to,  Homer. 

Horace,  or  Horatius,  (Quintus  Flaccus,)  a  Roman  poet,  of  the  most 
exquisite  delicacy  of  perception  and  grace  of  expression,  of  the 
gayest  and  most  abundant  wit,  and  of  the  keenest  and  most  hu- 
morous satire  ;  though  his  poetry  is  deservedly  censured  for  its  li- 
centiousness. He  was  born  about  B.  C.  65,  at  Venusium,  a  town 
of  Apulia,  in  Italy.  He  was  a  friend  of  Virgil,  and  was  patron- 
ised by  the  Emperor  Augustus.  He  died  about  B.  C.  8,  at  the  age 
of  fifty-six. 

Horoscope,  a  superstitious  astrological  observation  of  the  position  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  at  the  moment  of  a  person's  birth,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  predicting  his  fortune.  Making  a  figure  of  such  position,  is 
called  casting  a  horoscope. 


370  GLOSSARY. 

Humanity,  or  the  humanities,  polite  and  classical  literature,  in  op- 
position to  philosophy  and  science. 

Huss,  (John,)  born  about  A.  D.  1376,  was  one  of  the  boldest  and 
most  resolute  of  the  reformers.  He  was  sentenced  to  death  by  a 
Roman  Catholic  council  at  the  city  of  Constance,  and  was  burnt 
at  the  stake,  July  6,  1415.  For  an  account  of  his  last  examination 
and  death,  see  '  Great  Events,'  being  the  seventeenth  Volume  of 
'  THE  SCHOOL.  LIBRARY,'  Larger  Series. 

Hvtchinson,  (Thomas,)  the  author  of  a  '  History  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,'  was  colonial  governor  of  Massachusetts,  from  A.  D.  1771  to 
1774. 

Hydra,  the  centre  of  the  Greek  maritime  trade,  is  a  rocky  island, 
southeast  of  the  Morea,  about  eight  miles  from  the  shore. 

Hydraulic,  relating  to  the  motion  or  force  of  water.  Hydraulic 
press,  a  machine  in  which  the  force  of  water  is  employed,  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  an  immense  pressure.  For  a  description  of 
this  press,  (also  called  the  Hydrostatic  press)  see  '  Useful  Arts,' 
Vol.  ii.,  being  the  twelfth  Volume  of  '  THE  SCHOOL,  LIBRARY,' 
Larger  Series. 

Hyperborean  regions,  (regions  beyond  Boreas  or  the  North  Wind,) 
the  name  given  by  the  ancients  to  the  unknown  countries  of  the 
North  and  West,  where  a  delightful  climate  was  reported  always 
to  prevail. 

Iberia,  the  ancient  name  of  Spain. 

Iliad,  see  Homer. 

Ilissus,  a  rivulet  near  Athens. 

Indian  Archipelago,  see  Archipelago 

Indian  Ocean,  the  ocean  lying  south  of  Asia,  west  of  New  Holland, 
and  east  of  Africa. 

Indus,  a  large  river  in  the  western  part  of  Hindostan,  flowing  into 
the  sea  of  Arabia. 

Inquisition,  a  tribunal  or  court,  established  by  the  Popes  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  for  the  purpose  of  seeking  out  heretics  and  all 
who  denied  any  doctrines  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  pro- 
nouncing sentence,  without  appeal,  against  their  lives,  liberties, 
and  fortunes.  It  was  established  in  most  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
countries  of  Europe  ;  in  several  of  them  was  nearly  independent 
of  the  civil  power  ;  and  in  Spain,  particularly,  exercised  an  un- 
controlled authority.  The  cruelties  practised  upon  many  of  the 
victims  of  the  Inquisition  almost  surpass  belief,  and  no  full  ac- 
count of  the  institution  and  its  proceedings  can  be  given  in  a  brief 
compass.  It  was  abolished  in  France,  by  Napoleon,  in  1808,  and 
in  Spain,  in  1820. 

Ionia,  the  ancient  name  of  one  of  the  countries  of  Greece,  but  more 
commonly  applied  to  a  region  in  the  eastern  part  of  Asia  Minor, 
which  was  settled  by  an  Ionian  colony. 

Islands  of  the  Blest,  the  Heave.n,  or  Elysium  of  the  very  ancient 
Grecian  mythology  ;  the  Happy  Islands,  supposed  to  lie  far  to  the 
west,  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  where  those  beloved  of  the  gods,  freed 
from  death,  passed  a  life  of  quiet  happiness. 

Joe  Smith,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  sect  called  Mormons. 

Johnson,  (Samuel,)  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  authors  of  his  time, 


GLOSSARY.  371 

was  born  at  Litchfield,  England,  September  7,  1709.  He  was  of 
a  kind  and  generous  disposition,  and  his  character  was  elevated 
and  honorable.  His  Dictionary  of  the  English  language  is  a  com- 
pilation of  immense  labor,  and  still  takes  precedence  of  any  later 
work  of  the  kind.  He  was  a  sound  and  vigorous  writer,  and  hia 
'  Rambler,'  a  series  of  essays,  unites  great  acuteness  of  observa- 
tion, with  elegance  of  illustration.  His  political  treatises  are  rath- 
er declamatory  than  argumentative,  and  more  sarcastic  than  just. 
He  died  December  13,  1784,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years,  and 
was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

Jones,  Sir  William,  an  eminent  lawyer  and  Oriental  scholar,  born 
at  London,  in  1746.  He  died  much  esteemed  and  lamented,  in 
1794,  at  the  age  of  forty-eight. 

Jonson,  Ben,  a  celebrated  English  dramatist,  the  friend  and  contem- 
porary of  Shakspeare.  His  best  dramas  are  marked  by  strong  hu- 
mor and  a  vigorous  conception  and  delineation  of  character.  He 
was  born  A.  D.  1574,  and  died  in  1637. 

Jubilee,  every  fiftieth  year,  celebrated  as  a  festival  among  the  Jews, 
in  commemoration  of  their  deliverance  from  Egypt.  During  this 
year,  all  debts  were  cancelled,  slaves  were  freed,  and  estates, 
which  had  been  sold,  reverted  to  their  original  proprietors,  or  their 
heirs.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  also  instituted  a  year  of  Ju- 
bilee, during  which,  the  Pope  granted  plenary  indulgences  (full 
pardon  for  all  sin)  to  all  who  confessed,  and  partook  of  the  sacra- 
*ment.  The  word  jubilee  is  now  used  to  signify  any  time  of  gen- 
eral rejoicing,  or  the  commemoration  of  great  events. 

Julius  Ccesar,  see  Ctesar. 

July  Fourth,  the  anniversary  of  the  signing  of  the  declaration  of 
American  Independence  by  the  Congress,  in  1776. 

Tune  Seventeenth,  1775,  the  day  on  which  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill 
was  fought. 

"Kepler,  (John,)  a  great  German  mathematician  and  astronomer. 
From  the  astronomical  observations  of  Tycho  Brahe,  he  deduced 
the  laws  which  regulate  the  courses  of  the  planets,  known  as  the 
"  three  laws  of  Kepler,"  on  which  were  based  the  subsequent  dis- 
coveries of  Newton,  and  the  modern  theory  of  the  planetary  sys- 
tem. He  was  born  at  Wurtemberg,  December  27,  1571,  and  died 
in  November,  1630,  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age. 

Knox,  (Henry,)  one  of  the  major  generals  of  the  American  army  in 
the  Revolutionary  War,  was  born  at  Boston,  July  25,  1750.  After 
rendering  the  most  important  services  to  the  country,  in  several  of 
the  most  celebrated  events  of  the  war,  he  filled,  for  many  years, 
the  offices  of  Secretary  of  War  and  of  the  Navy.  He  possessed, 
in  an  eminent  degree,  the  confidence  of  Washington,  and  was  re- 
markable for  integrity,  courage,  and  perseverance.  He  died  Oc- 
tober 25,  1806,  aged  fifty-six  years. 

Labrador,  the  most  eastern  part  of  North  America,  lying  north  of 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  east  of  Canada,  and  extending 
about  seven  hundred  miles  in  length  and  five  hundred  in  breadth. 
Its  soil  is  barren,  and  it  has  been  little  explored. 

Lampy,  filled  or  studded  with  lamps. 


372  GLOSSARY. 

Lancaster,  (Joseph,)  the  suggester  of  a  system  of  Monitorial  In- 
struction, called,  from  him,  the  Lancasterian  System. 

Landward,  towards  the  land. 

La  Place,  (Pierre  Simon,)  a  distinguished  French  mathematician 
and  astronomer.  His  great  works  are  the  '  Exposition  du  Systeme 
du  Monde,'  (exposition  of  the  system  of  the  universe,)  and  the 
'  Mecanique  Celeste,'  (mechanism  of  the  heavenly  bodies.)  He 
was  born  A.  D.  1749,  and  died  in  1827.  (See  Bon-ditch.) 

La  Plata,  a  large  river  in  South  America,  flowing  into  the  Atlantic. 

Latin.     The  language  of  the  ancient  Romans. 

Lavoisier,  (Anthony  Laurence,)  a  distinguished  French  chemist, 
born  in  1743.  His  philosophical  researches  were  very  extensive 
and  important  to  science.  He  was  condemned  to  death  by  the 
Revolutionary  tribunal  at  Paris,  and  executed  in  May,  1794,  for 
the  pretended  crime  of  having  adulterated  snufF  with  ingredients 
injurious  to  the  health  of  the  citizens  !  On  being  arrested,  he 
besought  time  to  complete  some  interesting  experiments  in  which 
he  was  engaged  ;  but  was  answered,  "  the  Republic  does  not 
want  learned  men  nor  chemists,  and  the  course  of  justice  cannot 
not  be  suspended  " 

Leghorn,  a  commercial  city  in  Italy,  on  the  Mediterranean,  contain- 
ing about  sixty-five  thousand  inhabitants. 

Leibnitz,  (Gottfried  Wilhelm,)  one  of  the  most  celebrated  philoso- 
phers and  mathematicians  of  Germany.  His  theological  and  phi- 
losophical writings  are  characterized  by  much  originality,  and 
have  given  great  impulse  to  philosophical  inquiry.  He  was  born 
in  1646,  and  lived  to  the  age  of  seventy  years.  See  the  first  Vol- 
ume of  '  Pursuit  of  Knowledge  under  Difficulties,'  being  Volume 
xiv.  of 'THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY,'  Larger  Series. 

Leo  X.,  (John  de  Medici,)  ascended  the  papal  throne  in  1513,  on  the 
death  of  Julius  the  Second,  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight.  He  posses- 
sed a  taste  for  literature  and  the  arts,  and  was  fond  of  luxury  and 
magnificence.  His  profuse  expenditure  in  the  construction  of  St. 
Peter's  Church,  at  Rome,  induced  him  to  raise  money  by  the  sale 
of"  indulgences,"  as  they  were  called  ;  that  is  of  pardons  for 
crimes  which  had  been,  or  might  afterward  be,  committed  ;  an 
abuse  which  was  one  great  cause  of  the  Protestant  Reformation, 
commenced  by  Martin  Luther. 

Leviathan,  an  immense  fish,  or  marine  animal,  with  scales,  men- 
tioned in  the  book  of  Job  ;  and,  from  the  description  there  given, 
supposed,  by  some,  to  be  a  crocodile,  by  others,  a  whale. 

Lexington,  a  small  town  in  Massachusetts,  twelve  miles  from  Bos- 
ton, where  the  first  armed  resistance  was  made  to  British  authori- 
ty at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  A  body  of 
troops  was  sent  from  Boston,  by  General  Gage,  (the  British  gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts,)  on  the  evening  of  April  18,  1775,  to  seize 
some  military  stores  at  Concord.  A  number  of  American  militia 
were  hastily  drawn  up,  on  Lexington  common,  on  the  morning  of 
the  nineteenth  of  April,  to  oppose  them  ;  and,  on  refusing  to  dis- 
perse, when  insultingly  ordered  so  to  do.  by  the  British  officer, 
were  fired  upon.  Seven  were  killed,  and  three  wounded.  They 


GLOSSARY.  373 

retreated,  while  the  British  proceeded  to  Concord,  and  destroyed 
the  stores.  But  the  country  had  been  roused,  and  small  armed 
bands  hung  upon  the  flank  and  rear  of  the  British,  on  their  return 
to  Boston,  which  they  reached,  after  great  loss,  having  been  guilty 
of  savage  atroritii's  on  their  march,  which  disgraced  the  British 
name,  and  subjected  the  principal  actors  to  deserved  execration. 

Ley  ten,  church  at.  A  small  body  of  English  Puritans  who  emigra- 
ted to  the  city  of  Leyden,  in  Holland,  early  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  there  formed  themselves  into  a  church. 

Lilies,  formerly  the  royal  device  or  emblem  on  the  standards  of  the 
French  monarchy.  tv-e  Lion. 

Lincoln,  (Benjamin,)  an  American  general,  in  the  War  of  the  Rev- 
olution, who  particularly  distinguished  himself  at  Yorktown,  and  in 
the  southern  campaigns.  He  was  born  in  1733,  and  died  in  1810. 

Lion  and  the  Lilies.  The  Lion  is  the  royal  device  on  the  English 
standards,  and  the  Lilies  were  formerly  the  royal  device  or  emblem 
of  the  French  monarchy. 

Lisbon,  the  chief  city  of  Portugal,  containing  about  two  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants.  It  was,  in  1755,  the  scene  of  a  dreadful 
earthquake,  which  destroyed  the  finest  portion  of  the  city,  and 
about  thirty  thousand  inhabitants. 

Locke,  (John,)  one  of  the  greatest  men  that  England  ever  produced, 

-  born  in  1632.  His  style  is  simple  and  clear  ;  his  thoughts  are  pro- 
found and  ar-ute.  His  most  celebrated  works  are  his  «  Essay  oil 
the  Human  Understanding,'  and  his  two  '  Treatises  on  Govern- 
ment,' which  uphold  the  great  principles  of  a  free  constitution, 
which  have  since  been  so  fully  developed  and  illustrated.  He 
died  October  28,  1704,  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age. 

London,  tower  of.  This  ancient  and  extensive  pile  of  buildings  is 
situated  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Thames,  covering  about 
twelve  acres  of  ground.  In  it  are  kept  the  '  regalia,'  or  crown 
jewels,  (as  the  crowns  and  sceptre,)  also  muskets  and  arms  for 
two  hundred  thousand  men,  with  various  other  objects  of  interest. 

Longitu  le,  the  distance,  measured  by  degrees,  on  the  equator,  east 
or  west  from  a  certain  meridian  called  the  first  or  prime  meridian. 

Lope  de  Ve%a,  see  Vega. 

Louises.  Among  the  long  line  of  French  kings  who  bore  the  name 
of  Louis,  several  were  patrons  of  literature  and  the  arts. 

Louis  Philippe,  the  present  King  of  France,  was  son  of  Philip,  Duke 
of  Orleans,  a  man  whose  name  has  become  infamous  from  his  con- 
duct. He  ascended  the  throne  of  France  in  1830,  after  the  expul- 
sion of  Charles  the  Tenth.  (See  Charles  X.) 

Lowland.  The  southern  parts  of  Scotland,  where  the  English  tongue 
is  spoken,  are  called  Lowlands,  in  distinction  from  the  northern  or 
more  mountainous  part,  called  Highlands,  where  the  Gaelic  lan- 
guage prevails  to  a  great  extent. 

Lucifer,  (light-bearer,)  the  Latin  epithet  of  Venus,  the  morning 
star.  In  the  Greek  mythology,  this  was  the  name  of  the  son  of 
Jupiter  and  Aurora.  As  leader  of  the  stars,  he  had  the  charge  of 
the  chariot  and  horses  of  the  sun,  and  is  represented  as  riding  on 
a  white  horse,  and  preceding  Aurora  ;  hence  the  name  is  poetical- 
32  E.  E. 


374  GLOSSARY. 

ly  given  to  the  morning  star.  The  name  also  occurs  in  the  four- 
teenth chapter  of  Isaiah,  (verse  12,)  to  which  passage  reference 
is  made  on  page  198  of  this  volume. 

Lucretius,  (Titus  Carus,)  a  Roman  writer,  who  was  born  about 
the  year  B.  C.  95.  None  of  his  works  survive,  except  a  poem,  in 
six  books,  called  De  Rerum  JVatura,  (on  the  nature  of  things,)  in 
which  he  discusses  the  principles  of  the  philosophy  of  Epicurus. 

Lunar  observation,  one  of  the  modes  of  determining  the  longitude, 
at  sea,  by  observing,  with  instruments,  the  angular  distance  of  the 
moon  from  the  sun  and  fixed  stars,  and  comparing  the  time  of  ob- 
servation with  that  time  at  which  the  Nautical  Almanac  shows  a 
similar  distance  for  the  first  meridian. 

Luther,  (Martin,)  the  first  and  chief  of  the  Reformers,  born  at  Isle- 
ben,  a  town  of  Saxony,  November  10,  1483.  He  became  a  monk 
of  the  order  of  St.  Augustine,  but  soon  after  threw  off  the  cowl 
and  the  fetters  of  papal  authority.  He  wrote  and  preached  with 
great  severity  against  the  sale  of  indulgences,  (see  Leo  X.,)  ad- 
vocated the  free  perusal  of  the  Scriptures,  the  suppression  of  mon- 
asteries, and  the  marriage  of  priests  or  ministers.  He  completed, 
in  thirteen  years,  a  translation  of  the  Bible  into  German,  and  pub- 
lished many  powerful  treatises  on  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformed 
faith.  As  a  preacher,  he  was  wise,  practical,  and  eloquent.  Pos- 
sessed of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  of  great  sa- 
gacity, his  courage  was  undaunted,  and  his  constancy  unshaken, 
amid  all  the  threats  and  attacks  of  the  Pope  and  Roman  Catholic 
clergy  ;  and  nearly  all  Germany  became  ardently  attached  to  his 
person  and  religious  views.  He  died  February  18,  1546,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-three,  after  a  long  and  painful  illness.  For  an  ac- 
count of  his  appearance  before  the  Diet  of  Worms,  see  '  Great 
Events  by  Great  Historians,'  &c.,  forming  the  seventeenth  volume 
of'  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY,'  Larger  Series. 

Lybia,  the  ancient  name  of  Africa,  in  general,  west  of  Egypt  ;  also 
a  district  in  Africa,  which  now  forms  the  territory  of  Barca. 

Lyceum,  a  term  applied  to  popular  associations  for  the  attainment  of 
knowledge,  by  lectures,  &c.  The  name  is  taken  from  that  of  the 
academy  of  the  celebrated  philosopher  Aristotle,  at  Athens. 

Lycophron,  a  Grecian  grammarian,  and  author  of  several  tragedies, 
who  lived  at  Alexandria,  Egypt,  about  the  year  B.  C.  280. 

Machiavelli,  (Nicolo,)  a  celebrated  political  writer  and  statesman, 
born  at  Florence,  A.  D.  1469.  His  works  are  historical,  political, 
and  military.  His  most  famous  political  work  is  entitled,  '  II  Prin- 
cipe,' (the  Prince,)  the  real  design  and  intent  of  which,  has 
given  rise  to  much  speculation.  "  He  was  an  original  thinker,  pa- 
triotic in  his  feelings,  and  frugal  and  simple  in  his  life  and  man- 
ners. He  died  in  1527. 

Macedonia,  in  ancient  geography,  a  mountainous  country,  embracing 
the  northern  part  of  Greece  ;  now  forming  a  part  of  Turkey  in 
Europe. 

Maecenas,  or  J\fcccenas,  (Caius  Cilnius,)  the  confidential  friend  of 
Augustus,  and  the  patron  of  Horace  and  Virgil.  Possessing  great 
wealth,  he  was  an  indolent  voluptuary  in  his  habits,  fond  of  pleas- 
ure, and  of  the  curiosities  of  art. 


GLOSSARY.  375 

Mavius,  see  Bavins. 

Magna  Greecia,  the  ancient  name  of  the  southern  part  of  Italy, 
which  was  inhabited  by  Greek  colonists. 

Magnetism,  that  property,  by  which  certain  bodies  are  able  to  at- 
tract iron  and  steel  towards  themselves.  It  exists  naturally  in 
some  kinds  of  iron  ore.  If  a  bar  of  iron  be  rubbed  upon  a  piece 
of  such  ore,  it  acquires  the  power  of  attracting  other  iron,  and  if  it 
be  suspended  by  its  centre,  will  take  a  direction  nearly  north  and 
south,  owing  to  the  magnetic  attraction  of  the  earth  itself,  which 
is  a  large  magnet.  A  slender  bar  or  needle  magnetised,  and  sus- 
pended on  a  pivot,  is  called  a  magnetic  needle.  See  Compass. 

Malthus,  (T.  R.,)  an  English  writer  on  various  subjects.  He  is  best 
known  by  his  Essay  on  the  Principles  of  Population,  the  leading 
doctrine  of  which  is,  that  population  increases  faster  than  the 
means  of  subsistence. 

Mammoth,  a  species  of  elephant,  of  a  large  size,  now  extinct. 

Mansfield,  (Lord,  William  Murray,)  an  eloquent  English  lawyer, 
and  distinguished  jurist.  lie  was  for  a  short  time  Chancellor,  and 
for  many  years  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  King's  Bench.  He 
was  born  at  Perth,  in  Scotland,  March  2,  1705,  and  died  in  Lon- 
don March  20,  1793,  aged  eighty-eight. 

Mantincea,  a  town  of  Arcadia,  in  that  part  of  Greece,  called  the 
Peloponnesus,  now  the  Morea.  It  is  celebrated  for  a  battle  fought 
by  the  Thebans,  under  Epaminondas,  and  the  combined  forces  of 
Lacedasmon,  Achaia,  Elis,  Athens,  and  Arcadia,  about  B.  C.  363, 
in  which  Epaminondas  was  killed. 

Marathon,  a  village  in  Greece,  celebrated  as  the  place  where  Mil- 
tiades,  the  Athenian  general,  gained  a  great  victory  over  the  Per- 
sians. 

Mariner's  Compass,  see  Compass. 

Marshall,  (John,)  the  most  distinguished  constitutional  jurist  our 
country  has  produced.  He  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  after 
filling  several  high  civil  stations,  was,  in  1801,  appointed  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  which  office 
he  filled  till  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1836.  His  decisions,  on 
cases  of  the  highest  importance,  were  luminous  and  profound,  and 
his  genius,  integrity,  and  learning,  elevated,  in  public  estimation, 
the  character  of  the  tribunal  over  which  he  presided.  lie  was  the 
author  of  a  valuable  Life  of  Washington,  in  five  volumes. 

Mary,  Queen  of  England,  was  the  daughter  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  by 
h:s  first  wife,  Catharine  of  Aragon,  and  succeeded  to  the  throne  on 
the  death  of  her  brother,  Edward  the  Sixth,  in  1553.  She  was 
born  February  18,  1517,  and  died,  after  a  reign  of  five  years,  No- 
vember 7,  1558.  She  was  a  bigoted  Roman  Catholic,  and  her 
reign  was  remarkable  for  the  relentless  persecution  of  all  who  de- 
nied the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  In  the  course  of  it,  two  hundred 
and  seventy-seven  persons  were  burnt,  as  heretics. 

Massasoit,  a  celebrated  Indian  sachem,  very  friendly  to  the  English 
in  the  early  settlement  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

Mastodon,  an  animal  of  immense  size,  of  the  thickskinned  order, 
now  extinct.  One  skeleton  measures  eighteen  feet  in  length, 


376  GLOSSARY. 

eleven  feet  and  five  inches  in  height,  with  tusks  ten  feet  and 
seven  inches  long. 

Matthias,  a  notorious  impostor,  who,  some  years  since,  infested  por- 
tions of  the  state  of  New  York,  claiming  to  be  the  inspired  mes- 
senger of  a  new  revelation  from  God,  and  imposed  on  several  per- 
sons of  property  and  standing. 

Mausoleum,  (plural  Mausolea,)  a  tomb,  so  called,  from  Mausolus, 
an  ancient  King  of  Caria,  in  Asia  Minor,  to  whom  a  sumptuous 
sepulchre  was  erected  by  his  Queen,  Artemisia.  The  name  is 
now  applied  to  any  elegant  sepulchral  monument. 

Mayjlower,  the  name  of  the  vessel  which  brought  over  the  first  of 
the  Pilgrims,  who  landed  on  Plymouth  Rock. 

Mechanics'"  Institutes,  associations  of  mechanics  for  the  purpose  of  ac- 
quiring knowledge,  by  scientific  lectures  and  classes  for  instruction. 

Medicean  age,  a  name  applied  to  that  part  of  the  fifteenth  century 
when  the  family  of  Medici  attained  their  greatest  power  and  in- 
fluence in  Florence,  particularly  under  Lorenzo  de  Medici,  who 
was  a  distinguished  patron. of  literature  and  the  fine  arts. 

Mediterranean,  a  large  sea,  lying  between  Europe  and  Africa,  and 
separating  them  from  each  other. 

Megatherium,  (plural,  Megatheria,)  an  immense  animal,  of  the 
sloth  kind,  now  extinct  ;  equal  in  size  to  a  rhinoceros. 

Memphians,  inhabitants  of  Memphis,  in  Egypt,  an  ancient  city  of 
immense  extent,  and  great  architectural  beauty. 

Menander,  an  ancient  Greek  writer  of  comedies,  a  few  fragments  of 
which  are  now  remaining.  He  was  born  B.  C.  342,  and  drowned 
himself  at  the  age  of  fifty-two  years. 

Menstruum,  any  liquid  which  is  used  to  dissolve,  or  extract  the 
qualities  from  other  ingredients. 

Meteora,  peaks  of,  certain  monasteries  in  Thessaly,  not  far  from 
Trikkala,  which  are  built  upon  the  summits  or  pinnacles  of  rocks, 
and  called  meteors,  from  T'U  i/fTftnna,  which,  in  ancient  Greek,  sig- 
nifies, "  lofty  places,"  "  whatever  passes  in  the  upper  regions  of 
the  air." 

Mexico,  a  very  extensive  kingdom  in  the  southwestern  part  of  North 
America,  conquered  by  the  Spaniards,  under  Hernando  Cortes, 
A.  D.  1519,  and  from  which  they  were  expelled  in  1829.  It  is 
now  divided  into  several  states,  and  contains  a  population  of  from 
eight  to  ten  millions,  who  are  mostly  ignorant,  and  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  Roman  Catholic  priesthood.  Since  the  expulsion  of  the 
Spaniards,  it  has  been  the  scene  of  constant  insurrections  and  rev- 
olutions, where  one  bad  ruler  gives  place  to  another. 

Milky  way,  see  Galaxy. 

Milton,  (John,)  an  illustrious  English  poet,  born  in  1608.  He  was 
the  author  of  several  political  and  theological  works  in  prose,  and 
composed  the  immortal  epic  poem  of  Paradise  Lost,  after  the  total 
loss  of  his  sight.  He  was  an  Independent  in  Politics,  was  the 
friend  of  Cromwell,  and  Latin  Secretary  to  the  Council  of  State. 
He  died  in  1674,  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  his  age. 

Minerva.  One  of  the  goddesses  of  ancient  mythology,  presiding 
over  arts  and  arms.  One  of  her  celebrated  temples  was  at  Su- 
nium,  a  promontory  of  Attica,  near  Athens.  See  Sunium. 


GLOSSARY.  377 

Moccasin,  a  kind  of  shoe,  of  deerskin,  or  other  soft  leather,  made 
and  used  by  the  Indians. 

Moles,  large  masses  of  earthwork  or  masonry,  extending  into  the  sea, 
for  the  protection  of  harbors  against  the  violence  of  the  waves. 

Monastic  Orders,  the  different  brotherhoods  or  orders  of  monks. 
They  were  founded  by  various  persons,  and  each  order  had  cer- 
tain rules  of  dress,  diet,  and  duties,  prescribed,  of  greater  or  less 
strictness  and  severity.  Among  them,  are  the  orders  of  the  Car- 
melites, Augustines,  Franciscans,  and  Dominicans. 

Monitorial  schools,  schools  conducted  upon  the  system  of  instruction 
introduced  by  Bell  or  Lancaster,  and  called  the  Monitorial  or  the 
Lancasterian  system,  according  to  which,  the  instruction  is  given  to 
the  younger  classes,  by  older  and  more  advanced  scholars,  called 
monitors,  who,  in  their  turn,  receive  direct  instruction  from  the 
masters. 

Monkish  Chronicles.  In  many  of  the  monasteries,  the  monks  oc- 
cupied themselves  in  compiling  and  transcribing  the  histories  of 
celebrated  Saints,  or  of  their  own  monasteries,  and  sometimes  his- 
tories and  works  of  literature. 

Mount  Vernon.  The  name  of  the  family  estate  of  General  Wash- 
ington, on  the  banks  of  the  River  Potomac,  in  Virginia. 

There  were  nine  deities,  called  Muses,  in  heathen  mythol- 
ogy, each  of  whom  had  the  protection  or  patronage  of  some  partic- 
ular branch  of  science  or  art  ;  as  Clio,  of  history,  Euterpe,  of  mu- 
sic, Thalia,  of  comedy,  Melpomene,  of  tragedy,  Terpsichore,  of 
dancing,  Erato,  of  lyric  poetry,  Polyhymnia,  of  eloquence  and 
mimicry,  Urania,  of  astronomy,  and  Calliope,  of  epic  poetry. 
They  were  represented  as  beautiful  virgins,  and  were  worship- 
ped by  the  Greeks  and  Ilornans. 

Mussulman,  (a  corruption  of  JMoslemuna,  the  plural  of  Moslem,) 
a  professor  of  islam,  or  the  true  faith,  among  Mohammedans,  or 
followers  of  Mohammed,  who  was  the  founder  of  a  religious  system 
in  Turkey  and  Arabia. 

Mi/.--.!!'-*,  writers  of  various  periods,  who  have  employed  themselves 
in  discussing  subjects  of  an  abstruse  and  mystical  nature. 

JVuntnrkrt,  an  island,  belonging  to  Massachusetts,  lying  about  twen- 
ty miles  south  of  the  peninsula  of  Cape  Cod.  A  great  part  of  the 
inhabitants  are  engaged  in  the  whale  fisheries,  which  have  been  a 
source  of  great  wealth  to  the  island, 

Naples,  a  city  in  Italy,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  the  two  Sici- 
lies. It  is  situated  on  the  beautiful  Bay  of  Naples,  and  overlooked 
by  Mount  Vesuvius.  The  population  number  between  three  and 
four  hundred  thousand.  Its  climate  is  very  mild  and  salubrious. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  the  most  extraordinary  warrior  of  modern 
times,  was  born  August  15,  1769,  at  Ajaccio,  in  the  island  of  Corsica, 
and  educated  in  the  military  schools  of  France.  He  rapidly  rose 
from  the  station  of  an  officer  of  artillery  to  that  of  Emperor  of 
France,  the  throne  of  which  he  ascended  in  1804.  He  was  con- 
stantly engaged  in  war,  and  was  victorious  in  all  his  battles,  till 
towards  the  close  of  his  career,  when  he  suffered  reverses,  and 
finally,  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  June  18, 1815,  he  was  defeated, 

32* 


378  GLOSSARY. 

and  gave  himself  up  to  the  English,  by  whom  he  was  sent  to  the 
Island  of  St.  Helena,  where  he  remained  a  prisoner,  till  he  died, 
May  5,  1821.  The  record  of  his  various  battles  and  other  public 
operations  would  alone  fill  a  volume  ;  and  of  course  cannot  here 
be  enumerated.  His  military  genius  has  hardly  been  rivalled  in 
any  age,  and  it  may  be  truly  said,  that  his  victories  were  not  so 
much  the  consequence  of  fortunate  accidents,  as  the  results  of  vast 
scientific  combinations  and  calculations,  executed  with  boldness 
and  precision.  France  is  indebted  to  him  for  a  most  elaborate  and 
comprehensive  code  of  laws,  and  for  various  public  works  of  great 
national  importance  and  surpassing  magnificence.  Measures  have 
just  been  adopted  by  the  French  government,  for  the  removal  of 
his  remains  to  France,  to  be  deposited  under  a  public  monument. 

Nativities,  the  casting  of,  was  the  observation  of  the  position  of  the 
celestial  bodies,  at  the  period  of  an  infant's  birth,  for  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining,  by  the  rules  of  astrology,  its  fortune  or  destiny. 
The  heavens  were  divided,  for  this  purpose,  into  twelve  parts  or 
houses,  called  the  house  of  life,  of  riches,  of  marriage,  of  death,  &.c. 

Necromancy  ;  the  magical  art  of  ascertaining  the  future  by  ques- 
tioning the  dead  ;  whose  voices  were  supposed  to  be  heard  from 
their  graves.  It  is  spoken  of  in  the  Jewish  scriptures,  and  was 
practised  in  ancient  Greece. 

Netherlands,  a  European  kingdom,  lying  between  Prussia,  Holland, 
France,  and  the  German  Ocean. 

Newton,  (Sir  Isaac,)  a  most  celebrated  English  philosopher  and 
mathematician,  born  at  Woolsthorpe,  England,  on  Christmas 
day,  1642,  and  distinguished  for  his  very  important  discoveries  in 
Optics  and  other  branches  of  Natural  Philosophy.  He  decompos- 
ed light,  and  proved  that  it  was  not,  as  had  before  been  supposed, 
a  simple  substance,  but  compounded  of  seven  rays,  possessing  dif- 
ferent coloring  properties,  and  unequal  refrangibilities,  (tenden- 
cies to  be  turned  aside,  in  passing  through  different  transparent 
bodies.)  He  also  discovered  the  theory  of  Universal  Gravitation, 
or  that  law  by  which  all  bodies  are  attracted  to  and  move  round 
a  common  centre,  as  the  planets  move  round  the  sun,  and  the  sun 
and  its  planets  round  another  sun  or  centre.  This  is  called  the 
Newtonian  theory.  His  mathematical  discoveries  are  too  abstruse 
and  intricate  to  mention  in  detail.  He  died31arch  20, 1727.  See 
the  first  volume  of  '  Pursuit  of  Knowledge  under  Difficulties,'  form 
ing  the  fourteenth  volume' of  the  '  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY,' 
Larger  Series. 

New  Zealanders,  the  natives  of  three  islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
southeast  of  New  Holland.  As  a  savage  race,  they  are  remark- 
able for  ferocity  and  energy  of  character,  and  for  a  quickness  of 
appreciation  of  the  advantages  of  civilized  life. 

Niger,  a  large  river  of  central  Africa,  rendered  famous  by  the  ex- 
plorations of  Mungo  Park,  the  Landers,  and  others,  made  in  order 
to  trace  its  stream  and  discover  its  sources. 

Night  Thoughts,  see  Young. 

Nile,  the  only  river  of  Egypt  ;  a  large  a^d  powerful  stream,  which 
rises  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  and,  flowing  through  Nubia  and 
Egypt,  empties  into  the  Mediterranean.  It  periodically  overflows 


GLOSSARY.  379 

its  banks,  and,  by  the  muddy  deposit  left  on  the  subsiding  of  the 
waters,  fertilizes  the  corn  and  rice  fields  of  Egypt. 

JVinus,  anciently  a  great  Assyrian  king  and  conqueror  ;  the  founder 
of  Nineveh,  a  celebrated  city. 

Nomadic,  rude  ;  savage  ;  having  no  fixed  habitation,  but  leading  a 
wandering  life,  engaged  in  tending  and  raising  cattle,  as  the  Tar- 
tars, Arabs,  &.c. 

Norman  Invasion.  In  the  year  1066,  William  the  First,  Duke  of 
Normandy,  invaded  England  with  his  Norman  followers,  and  ob- 
tained the  English  throne.  This  event  is  called  the  Norman  Inva- 
sion, or  Norman  Conquest. 

North  star,  the  star  nearest  to  the  North  Pole. 

Northumberland,  the  name  of  one  of  the  counties  of  England,  and  the 
title  of  the  dukedotn  held  by  the  ancient  and  noble  family  of  Percy. 

Nymph.  In  ancient  mythology,  certain  deities,  presiding  over  vari- 
ous objects,  as  fountains,  forests,  rivulets,  &.c.,  and  represented 
under  the  form  of  beautiful  girls,  were  called  nymphs.  The  term 
is  sometimes  applied,  poetically,  to  any  fair  or  graceful  girl. 

Oar,  chained  to,  see  Chained  to  the  oar. 

Oaten  pipe,  a  primitive  musical  instrument,  formed  of  a  series  of 
oaten  straws  or  reeds,  played  upon  by  the  mouth. 

Object-glass,  in  telescopes,  is  that  glass  which  is  placed  nearest  the 
object  to  be  viewed.  The  glass  at  the  other  end  is  called  the  eye- 
glass. 

Olmutz,  a  city  in  Moravia,  surrounded  by  extensive  fortifications. 
La  Fayette  was  confined,  for  several  years,  in  the  prisons  of  the 
citadel. 

Olympia,  a  city  of  Elis,  in  ancient  Greece,  celebrated  as  the  place 
where  the  Olympic  games  were  celebrated.  These  games  formed 
one  of  the  great  national  festivals  of  Greece. 

Oracles,  responses  given  by  persons  pretending  to  divine  inspira- 
tion ;  also,  the  places  where  such  responses  were  delivered. 

Orang  outang,  a  very  large  species  of  baboon,  which,  when  walking 
upright,  is  nearly  of  the  size  of  a  man. 

Orator,  The,  the  title  of  one  of  the  treatises  of  Cicero  on  oratory. 

Orbit,  the  path  described  by  a  planet  in  its  annual  revolution  round 
the  sun. 

Oriental,  inhabiting,  or  belonging  to,  the  East.  The  nations  of  Asia 
are  called  Oriental  nations  by  Europeans. 

Orion,  the  name  of  a  constellation. 

Orkneys,  the  name  of  a  cluster  of  islands,  near  the  northern  coast  of 
Scotland. 

Ossian,  a  celebrated  Gaelic,  or  Scottish  Highland  bard,  (or  poet,) 
who  flourished  about  A.  D.  300.  His  name  is  chiefly  known  by 
the  publications  of  a  Scottish  writer,  James  Macpherson.  Wheth- 
er the  poems  attributed  to  Ossian  were  really  his,  has  been  very 
generally  questioned,  and  they  are  by  many  supposed  to  be  for- 
geries. Their  subjects  are  partly  narrative  and  partly  lyric,  treating 
of  wars  and  Highland  characters.  They  are  in  some  parts  pathet- 
ic, and  contain  beautiful  images  and  comparisons.  Their  style  is 
abrupt  and  sententious. 


380  GLOSSARY. 

Otis,  (James,)  a  distinguished  American  lawyer  and  patriot,  who 
took  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  early  scenes  of  the  Revolutionary 
struggle.  Of  his  great  speech  against  the  issue  of  icrits  of  assist- 
ance, (which  were  warrants  or  writs  demanded  of  the  Supreme 
Courts  of  Massachusetts,  to  assist  the  custom-house  officers  in  car- 
rying into  effect  the  laws  passed  by  England  regulating  the  trade  of 
the  Colonies,)  John  Adams  remarked,  "  American  Independence 
was  then  and  there  born.  Every  man  of  an  immensely-crowded 
audience  appeared  to  me  to  go  away,  as  I  did,  ready  to  take  up 
arms  against  writs  of  assistance."  In  the  summer  of  1769,  he  was 
severely  wounded,  in  an  affray  at  a  coffee-house,  with  sonic  Brit- 
ish officers.  lie  received  a  deep  cut  on  the  head,  which  is  sup- 
posed to  have  caused  the  derangement  of  intellect  under  which  he 
afterwards  labored,  and  which,  except  during  a  few  lucid  intervals, 
continued  till  his  death,  which  was  occasioned  by  a  stroke  of  light- 
ning, in  1783,  at  the  age  of  sixty.  He  was  a  man  of  an  ardent  and 
irascible  temper  ;  the  character  of  his  eloquence  was  impetuous, 
bold,  and  energetic.  He  was  a  sound  classical  scholar,  and,  as  a 
lawyer,  foremost  in  rank.  As  a  patriot,  his  memory  will  ever  be 
held  by  his  countrymen  in  grateful  remembrance. 

Ottoman  porte,  Ottoman  power,  the  name  given  to  the  supreme  gov- 
ernment of  the  Turkish  empire.  The  term  Ottoman  is  derived 
from  Othman,  or  Osman,  one  of  the  greatest  leaders  or  emirs  of 
the  Turcoman  race,  who  took  several  provinces  in  Asia  Minor  from 
the  Romans,  and  called  himself  Sultan.  The  gate  of  a  magnificent 
palace  of  a  son  of  Osman  was  called  the  Porte :  hence  the  name. 
Osmanli  is  the  correct  national  appellation  of  the  people. 

Otway,  (Thomas,)  an  English  dramatist  of  considerable  merit,  who 
was  born  in  March,  1651,  and,  after  struggling  through  life  with 
poverty,  and  its  accompaniments,  sorrow  and  despondency,  died, 
April  14,  1685,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-four. 

Ovando,  one  of  the  early  Spanish  governors  of  Hispaniola,  about  the 
year  1500.  His  administration,  just  towards  the  Spaniards,  was 
cruel  and  oppressive  towards  the  native  inhabitants,  his  treatment 
of  whom  was  treacherous,  vindictive,  and  sanguinary.  His  be- 
havior to  Columbus  was  ungenerous  and  base  in  the  highest  de- 
gree. See  '  Life  of  Columbus,'  in  '  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY,' 
Vol.  i.,  Larger  Series,  and  Vol.  xi.,  Juvenile  Series. 

Oxford,  a  city  in  England,  the  seat  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  the 
most  richly  endowed  literary  institution  in  the  world.  The  Uni- 
versity buildings  are  very  magnificent,  consisting  of  twenty  Colleges 
and  five  Halls,  with  the  Clarendon  Printing  Office,  the  Radcliffe 
Library,  the  Theatre,  the  Bodleian  Library,  the  Museum,  &c. 

Pacific  Ocean,  the  great  body  of  water  lying  west  of  America,  be- 
tween that  continent  and  Asia. 

Paganism,  that  system  of  religious  worship,  which  is  founded  on  a 
belief  in  a  plurality  of  deities.  The  name  pagans  was  applied  by 
the  ancient  Christians,  when  the  villagers  (pagani)  worshipped 
the  heathen  gods  in  villages,  (pagi,)  after  Constantine  had  forbid- 
den their  rites  in  the  cities. 

Papal  power,  the  power  of  the  Popes,  or  Roman  pontiffs,  both  eccle- 


381 

siastical  and  temporal,  which  was  formerly  very  extensive.  Their 
dominions  embraced  some  of  the  finest  provinces  of  Italy,  and  their 
religious  supremacy  extended  over  Christendom. 

Papyrus,  a  sedge-like  plant,  from  which  the  ancient  Egyptians  made 
the  paper  they  used  in  writing.  It  grew  in  the  swamps  on  the 
borders  of  the  River  Nile.  Its  use,  however,  was  not  confined  to 
the  making  of  paper.  Sails,  cordage,  baskets,  even  boats,  were 
constructed  of  this  material. 

Parnassus,  a  mountain  in  Greece,  sacred,  in  ancient  times,  to  Apol- 
lo and  the  Muses,  and  very  frequently  invoked  by  ancient  and 
modern  poets.  Delphi  (which  see)  lay  at  the  foot  of  this  moun- 
tain. 

Parthenon,  the  temple  of  Minerva,  at  Athens,  formerly  a  model  of 
"classic  architecture,  now  in  ruins. 

Patagonia,  a  vast  country,  extending  over  the  southern  extremity  of 
South  America.  It  is  a  mountainous  region,  and  much  of  it  bar 
ren. 

Polities,  plates,  dishes,  (from  the  Latin  patina,  a  dish.) 

Patmos,  one  of  the  cluster  of  islands  called  Sporades,  in  the  Grecian 
Archipelago,  celebrated  as  the  place  of  St.  John's  exile,  and  where 
he  wrote  the  Apocalypse,  or  Book  of  Revelations. 

Peers,  House  of,  a  part  of  the  legislative  body  of  Great  Britain,  com- 
posed of  noblemen,  and  forming  an  Upper  House,  like  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States. 

Pericles,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  statesmen  of  Greece,  during 
whose  life  (sometimes  called  the  Periclcan  age')  was  the  most 
flourishing  period  of  Grecian  arts  and  sciences.  lie  was  a  man  of 
vast  sagacity  and  penetration,  of  commanding  eloquence,  and  great 
military  genius.  lie  adorned  the  city  of  Athens  with  many  mag- 
nificent public  buildings  and  useful  works.  His  great  ambition, 
during  the  long  time  for  which  he  wielded  almost  supreme  author- 
ity, was,  to  place  Athens  at  the  head  of  the  Grecian  states,  both 
politically  and  intellectually.  He  died  about  B.  C.  429,  after  a 
lingering  sickness  ;  and  on  his  deathbed  considered  that  it  was  his 
greatest  glory  "  that  he  had  never  caused  an  Athenian  to  put  on 
mourning." 

Persians,  the  inhabitants  of  Persia,  a  large  country  in  Asia,  border- 
ing on  Russia  and  Turkey. 

Peru,  an  extensive  country  of  South  America,  discovered  A.  D.  1526, 
by  the  Spaniards,  under  Francisco  Pizarro,  and  soon  after  con- 
quered by  him.  It  was  then  a  rich  and  flourishing  kingdom,  gov- 
erned by  sovereigns  called  Incas,  who  were  also  the  priests  of  the 
people.  It  abounded  in  very  valuable  silver  mines.  It  is  now  a 
republic,  having  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  the  Spanish  sovereignty  in 
1824.  See  Life  of  Pizarro,  in  the  twelfth  volume  of  the  Juvenile 
Series  of'  THE  SCHOOL,  LIBRARY.' 

Petrarch,  (Francis,)  an  Italian  poet  and  scholar,  of  great  elegance, 
was  born  in  Tuscany,  A.  D.  1304.  His  sonnets,  written  to  his 
mistress  Laura,  overflow  with  beauty  and  tenderness,  and  are 
considered  as  masterpieces  of  lyric  poetry.  He  died  in  July,  1374, 
at  the  age  of  seventy  years. 


382  GLOSSARY. 

Pharpar,  a  river  of  Syria,  near  Damascus,  mentioned  in  2  Kings  v 
12.  See  Jlbana. 

Phases,  in  astronomy,  signifies  the  various  appearances  of  any  body, 
as  of  the  moon,  or  of  one  of  the  planets,  at  its  different  ages  ;  also 
of  the  sun  and  moon  in  eclipse. 

Phenomena,  (plural  of  phenomenon,)  novel  appearances  or  natural 
facts,  usual  or  extraordinary. 

Phi  Seta  Kappa,  a  society,  composed  of  a  portion  of  the  graduates 
and  undergraduates  of  various  colleges  in  the  United  States.  Al- 
phas, or  branches,  exist  at  several  of  the  colleges,  and  their  anni- 
versaries are  celebrated  with  literary  exercises.  The  name  con- 
sists of  three  letters  of  the  Greek  alphabet,  which  are  the  initials 
of  the  Greek  words,  <f>ii.o:oipia  Biov  /fi/^eorij-n/;,  Philosophia  Biou 
Kubernetes,  Philosophy,  the  guide  of  life. 

Philip,  King,  a  celebrated  Indian  sachem,  son  of  Massasoit.  In 
1675,  he  commenced  a  bloody  and  relentless  war  against  the  Eng- 
lish colonists  in  New  England,  but  in  the  following  year  was  shot, 
while  lurking  in  a  swamp. 

Philip  the  Fair,  the  fourth  King  of  France,  of  that  name.  He 
succeeded  his  father  Philip  the  Third,  A.  D.  1285,  and  died  A.  D 
1314.  See  Galilean  Church. 

Philosopher's  stone,  see  Alchym.it/ts. 

Phocion,  an  Athenian  general,  distinguished  for  his  upright  and  dis- 
interested character.  He  was  forty -five  times  appointed  Governor 
of  Athens  ;  and  after  faithfully  serving  his  country,  in  the  council 
and  in  the  field,  and  gaining  important  victories,  he  was  condem- 
ned to  death,  B.  C.  318,  by  the  Athenians,  and  forced  to  drink 
hemlock,  which  was  a  deadly  poison.  After  his  death,  his  coun- 
trymen became  sensible  of  their  error,  and  of  his  patriotism  and 
truth,  and  raised  a  monument  to  his  memory. 

Phcznicians,  the  inhabitants  of  ancient  Phoenicia,  a  narrow  strip  of 
land  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  They  were 
celebrated  for  their  maritime  and  commercial  enterprise. 

Pilgrims,  the  name  given  to  the  first  settlers  of  New  England,  who 
emigrated  to  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  Bay. 

Pindar,  one  of  the  most  sublime  lyric  poets  of  ancient  Greece.  In 
his  odes,  he  commemorates  the  victors  at  the  games  of  Olympia, 
and  the  glories  and  conquests  of  Greece. 

Pindus,  a  mountainous  ridge  in  Greece,  and,  like  Parnassus,  the 
seat  of  Apollo  and  the  Muses. 

Pisa,  one  of  the  most  ancient  and  beautiful  cities  of  Tuscany,  in 
Italy.  In  the  middle  ages,  Pisa  was  distinguished  by  its  enterpris- 
ing commercial  character,  and  the  spirit  of  liberty  with  which  she 
so  long  resolutely  contended  with  Genoa  and  Florence.  The  '  lean- 
ing tower'  at  this  place  is  an  object  of  interest  to  travellers. 

Piston,  a  movable  cylinder,  working  in  the  barrel  or  hollow  cylin- 
der of  a  pump,  fire-engine,  steam-engine,  or  similar  machine.  It 
may  be  provided  with  a  valve,  (that  is,  a  lid  moving  upon1  a  hinge, 
or  any  aperture,  so  contrived  as  to  allow  the  passage  of  a  fluid  in 
one  direction  and  prevent  it  in  another,)  like  the  box  of  a  common 
pump,  or  may  be  solid,  as  in  a  forcing  pump  or  a  steam-engine. 


GLOSSARY.  383 

Pizarro,  (Francisco,)  the  name  of  a  Spanish  general,  celebrated 
for  his  adventures  and  conquests  in  the  New  World.  After  the 
most  savage  excesses  and  perfidious  barbarities,  exercised  upon  the 
native  princes  and  people  of  Peru,  he  founded,  in  A.  D.  1535,  the 
city  of  Lima,  and  obtained  the  supreme  authority  over  Peru  ;  but 
in  1537,  he  was  murdered,  in  his  palace,  by  Spanish  conspirators. 
For  his  Life,  see  Volume  xii.  of  '  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY,'  Ju- 
venile Series. 

Plato,  a  renowned  Greek  philosopher,  born  about  B.  C.  429.  At  the 
age  of  twenty,  he  entered  the  academic  school  of  Socrates,  and 
enjoyed  the  instructions  of  that  sage,  for  eight  years,  and  till  his 
death.  The  school  of  philosophy,  which  Plato  founded,  was  called 
the  Academy,  from  the  place  where  he  taught,  (see  Academy  ;) 
and  by  his  disciples  he  was  called  the  Sage.  The  philosophy, 
taught  in  his  dialogues,  is  of  an  elevated  and  sublime  character. 

Platform,  a  standard,  basis,  form,  or  plan. 

Pliny,  (the  elder,)  a  celebrated  Roman  scholar,  who  was  born  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord,  23.  He  was  a  naturalist,  and  diligently  no- 
ted all  the  phenomena  of  Nature.  He  fell  a  victim  to  his  sci- 
entific curiosity,  being  suffocated,  while  observing  the  great  erup- 
tion of  Vesuvius  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  79.  He  approached  too 
near  the  crater  of  the  mountain,  and  was  choked  with  the  sulphur- 
ous vapor  which  issued  from  it.  His  nephew,  Pliny  the  younger, 
was  an  elegant  scholar,  and  the  author  of  a  volume  of  epistles, 
which  are  well  known. 

Plutarch,  a  learned  Greek  historian  and  moralist.  His  '  Lives  of 
Celebrated  Men'  are  pleasantly  written,  and  throw  much  light  on 
ancient  history,  though  not  of  the  highest  authority  in  matters  of 
fact.  He  was  born  A.  D.  50,  and  died  at  the  age  of  about  seventy 
years. 

Plymouth,  the  principal  town  in  Plymouth  county,  Massachusetts, 
was  settled  by  the  Pilgrims,  who  arrived  there  December  22,  1620, 
and  were  the  first  colony  which  reached  New  England.  The  an- 
niversary of  the  landing  has  been  usually  celebrated  by  an  oration, 
and  various  festivities. 

Polarity  of  light,  is  that  arrangement  of  the  particles  or  rays  of 
light,  by  which  each  ray,  or  small  particle  of  a  ray,  by  reason  of 
different  physical  properties  possessed  by  its  different  faces,  turns, 
when  reflected  by  two  polished  plates  of  glass,  similar  faces  to- 
wards the  same  direction  in  space,  so  that  in  some  positions  of  the 
plates,  the  ray  is  wholly  transmitted,  in  others,  wholly  reflected. 

Polynesia,  the  name  given  by  geographers  to  the  large  clusters  of 
islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  including  the  groups  called  Sand- 
wich, Society,  Friendly,  and  Caroline,  Islands. 

Portugal,  a  kingdom  in  the  southwestern  part  of  Europe,  on  the 
western  side  of  the  Spanish  peninsula.  The  Portuguese  were 
formerly  distinguished  for  maritime  and  commercial  enterprise.  In 
the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  their  navy  was  the  largest  in 
the  world,  and  their  discoveries  and  colonial  possessions  were  only 
equalled  by  .those  of  Spain. 

Potomac,  a  river  flowing  into  Chesapeake  bay,  and  forming,  through 
its  whole  course,  the  line  of  boundary  between  the  states  of  Mary- 


384  GLOSSARY. 

land  and  Virginia.  At  its  head  waters,  in  Alleghany  county, 
Maryland,  and  on  the  Virginia  side,  are  vast  beds  of  valuable  iron 
ore  and  bituminous  coal. 

Potsdam,  the  favorite  residence  of  the  Great  Frederic,  King  of  Prus- 
sia ;  who  built  several  palaces  and  military  schools  there.  It  lies 
seventeen  miles  from  Berlin,  and  contains  about  twenty-five  thous- 
and inhabitants. 

Powerloorn,  see  pages  143  and  144,  and  also  Bigelow's  '  Useful 
Arts,'  and  '  Pursuit  of  Knowledge  under  Difficulties,'  forming  vol- 
umes xii.  and  xv.,  of 'THE  SCHOOL.  LIBRARY,'  Larger  Series. 

Practical  Navigator,  see  Boivditch. 

Prague,  the  capital  city  of  Bohemia.  It  contains  the  most  ancient 
university  in  Germany. 

Priestley,  (Joseph,)  an  eminent  philosopher  and  divine.  His  scien- 
tific researches  and  discoveries  in  chemistry  and  electricity,  and 
on  the  subjects  of  heat,  light,  and  colors,  are  numerous  and  val- 
uable. He  was  born  in  1733,  and  died  in  the  United  States,  in 
1804. 

Protestant  Reformation.  Luther-and  his  followers,  who  reformed 
the  many  abuses  in  the  Romish  church,  protested  against  certain 
resolves  of  the  diet  (council)  at  Spire,  and  were  thence  called  Pro- 
testants. The  great  Reformation  which  followed,  emancipating  a 
large  portion  of  Christendom  from  its  allegiance  to  the  power  of 
the  Pope,  and  resulting  in  general  freedom  of  religious  belief,  and 
which  is  looked  upon  as  the  great  modern  era  in  religious  history, 
was  also  hence  called  the  Protestant  Reformation. 

The  Ptolemaic  scheme  of  the  universe  was  that  of  the  Greek  philos- 
opher, Ptolemy,  who  supposed  the  earth  to  be  immovable,  in  the 
centre  of  the  universe,  while  all  the  other  heavenly  bodies  moved 
round  it  in  circles. 

Ptolemy  was  the  common  name  of  thirteen  kings  who  reigned  in 
Egypt.  The  first  three  were  especially  the  patrons  of  learning  at 
Alexandria. 

Puritans,  a  name  first  given  to  a  numerous  religions  sect  in  Eng- 
land, in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  laid  aside  the  Eng- 
lish Liturgy,  adopted  the  Geneva  service-book,  and  generally 
embraced  freely  the  doctrines  of  Calvin.  They  were  termed  Pu- 
ritans, because  their  form  of  worship  and  church  government 
claimed  to  be  purer  than  that  of  the  English  Church.  They  ob- 
jected to  the  priestly  authority  in  the  English  Church,  to  kneeling 
at  the  Sacrament,  and  to  the  wearing  of  surplices  and  other  ves- 
tures during  Divine  service.  During  the  subsequent  reign  of 
James,  they  were  politically  persecuted,  and  numbers  fled  to  Hol- 
land and  America.  In  the  reign  of  Charles  the  First,  the  Puritans, 
and  a  more  violent  party,  called  Independents,  who  were  republi- 
cans in  politics,  overthrew  the  monarchy,  beheaded  the  King,  and 
created  a  commonwealth  in  England. 

Pyramids,  colossal  structures,  supposed  to  have  been  erected  by  the 
Egyptian  kings.  They  are  in  Middle  Egypt,  and  are  about  forty 
in  number.  The  height  of  the  largest  is  between  six  and  seven 
hundred  feet.  They  have  been  explored  by  Denon  and  Belzoni. 
Their  peculiar  shape  is  well  known.  For  a  representation  and 


GLOSSARY.  385 

description,  see  '  Useful  Arts,'  Volume  xi.  of  '  THE  SCHOOL  LI- 
BRARY,' Larger  Series. 

Pythagoras,  a  Grecian  philosopher,  who  flourished  five  or  six  hun- 
dred years  before  Christ,  and  rendered  great  services  to  philoso- 
phy and  morals.  He  established  a  school,  called  the  Pythagorean 
school,  in  which  his  numerous  pupils  were  taught  to  live  with  tem- 
perance and  simplicity,  passing  their  time  in  exercise,  and  in  the 
study  of  science,  morals,  music,  &c.  The  moral  maxims  of  Py- 
thagoras were  pure  and  elevated,  inculcating  friendship,  modera- 
tion, temperance,  sobriety,  self-cornmand,  justice,  &c. 

Quadrant,  an  astronomical  instrument,  used  to  measure  the  arc  of 
any  great  circle  in  the  heavens,  in  order  to  determine  the  altitude 
or  angular  height  of  a  heavenly  body  above  the  horizon,  or  the  an- 
gular distance  between  one  heavenly  body  and  another. 

Quakog,  a  kind  of  muscle,  or  shellfish. 

Quakers,  or,  as  they  prefer  to  be  called,  Friends,  are  members  of  a 
society  of  Christians,  founded  by  George  Fox,  in  England,  about 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  They  believe  that  wars 
are  forbidden  in  the  sacred  writings,  and  refuse  to  bear  armg. 
They  deem  it  unlawful  to  take  judicial  or  other  oaths.  They  do 
not  consider  baptism  as  a  sacrament  necessary  to  the  Christian. 
They  require  great  simplicity  in  dress,  in  their  private  houses,  and 
in  houses  of  worship.  They  use  the  second  person  singular  of  the 
personal  pronoun,  (thou  and  thee,)  in  addressing  others.  The  early 
Quakers,  both  in  England  and  America,  suffered  cruel  persecu- 
tions, with  the  greatest  firmness  and  even  cheerfulness  ;  being 
frequently  fined,  whipped,  banished,  deprived  of  property,  and 
even  executed. 

Racine,  (Jean,)  a  distinguished  writer  of  French  tragedy,  born  in 
1639.  The  subjects  of  his  dramas  were  drawn  from  the  Grecian 
and  Roman  classics.  His  tone  of  feeling  and  action  is  pure  and 
elevated,  and  his  delineations  of  the  passions  are  very  true  to  na- 
ture. There  is  a  certain  stiffness  and  coldness  in  his  manner, 
which,  however,  is  more  the  result  of  the  peculiar  critical  rules 
of  his  time,  than  the  dictate  of  his  own  genius.  He  died  in 
1699. 

Raphael,  or  Raffaello,  (Sanzio,)  the  greatest  painter  and  architect 
of  his  age,  was  born  at  Urbino,  Italy,  on  Good  Friday,  A.  D.  1483, 
and  died  at  Rome,  on  his  birth  day,  A.  D.  1520.  At  an  early  age 
he  executed  several  remarkable  works.  In  power  of  composition 
and  expression,  he  has  never  been  surpassed.  In  his  greatest 
compositions,  is  found  the  most  perfect  simplicity,  united  with 
wonderful  grandeur,  dignity,  and  harmony.  His  countenance  and 
figure  were  strikingly  beautiful.  In  temper  he  was  kind  and  oblig- 
ing, in  his  manners  modest  and  amiable,  and  he  died  beloved  by 
all  classes,  both  high  and  low. 

Rayas,  literally,  a  flock,  the  term  by  which  all  subjects  of  the  Turk- 
ish empire,  who  are  not  Mohammedans,  are  designated. 

Reformation,  see  Protestant  Reformation. 

Reformation,  Catholic,  see  Gallican  Church. 

The  Restoration,  (in  English  history,)  the  return  of  King  Charles 
33  E.  E. 


336  GLOSSARY. 

the  Second,  in  1660,  after  the  death  of  Cromwell  and  the  restora- 
tion of  the  monarchy  in  England. 

The  Revolution  of  1688,  (in  England,)  the  event,  which  resulted  in 
the  abandonment  of  the  throne  by  Jarnes  the  Second,  (of  the  house 
of  Stuart,)  the  reigning  King,  when  William  the  Third,  then  Prince 
of  Orange,  landed  in  England,  for  "  the  preservation  of  English 
liberty  and  the  Protestant  Religion."  William  was  well  received  by 
the  majority  of  the  English  nation,  and  the  Parliament  declared  the 
throne  forfeited,  by  the  conduct  of  James,  and  William  and  his 
consort,  Mary,  (a  daughter  of  James,)  to  be  King  and  Queen  of 
Great  Britain. 

Revolutionary  War,  (American,)  that  in  which  the  United  States, 
then  British  Colonies,  contended  with  Great  Britain,  and  achieved 
their  political  independence.  It  commenced  in  1775,  and  continued 
till  1783. 

Rhine,  a  celebrated  river  in  Germany,  pursuing  a  course  of  nine 
hundred  miles,  from  its  source  to  the  sea.  Its  banks  have  been  the 
scene  of  many  memorable  events  in  history  ;  and  are  adorned  with 
flourishing  cities  and  villages,  castles  and  their  picturesque  ruins, 
extensive  forests,  and  luxuriant  vineyards.  The  Germans  regard 
this  river  with  great  reverence,  and  it  is  often  styled  by  their  poets, 
'Father  Rhine.' 

Robinson,  (John,)  Pastor  of  the  English  Puritans  at  Leyden,  in  Hol- 
land, a  man  of  high  reputation  for  talents,  piety,  and  learning.  A 
part  of  his  society  emigrated  to  Plymouth,  in  1620,  and  he  died, 
when  preparing  to  join  them,  in  1625. 

Roman  daughter,  the  heroine  of  a  legend  or  story,  not  entitled  to 
entire  credit,  which  states  that  a  lady  of  Rome,  when  her  aged 
father  was  confined  in  prison,  to  die  by  starvation,  obtained  per- 
mission to  visit  him,  and  though  strictly  searched,  that  she  might 
convey  him  no  sustenance,  supported  his  life,  by  feeding  him,  as 
an  infant,  at  her  breast. 

Rome,  which  has  been  called  '  the  Eternal  City,'  '  the  mistress  of 
the  world,'  and  '  the  mother  of  nations,'  is  a  city  of  Italy,  situated 
on  both  sides  of  the  River  Tiber,  near  the  Mediterranean.  For 
upwards  of  two  thousand  years  have  the  principal  occurrences  in 
history  been  connected  with  her  religious  or  political  policy,  her 
arts  and  arms.  The  Pope  resides  here  ;  but  the  city  now  pre- 
sents but  the  shadow  of  her  former  greatness. 

Rothschild,  the  name  of  a  family,  of  whom  there  are  several  broth- 
ers, bankers  of  vast  wealth  and  resources,  having  branches  of  their 
house  at  London,  Paris,  and  Hamburg,  and  agencies  at  almost  ev- 
ery city  in  the  world.  They  have  been  connected  with  most  of  the 
important  financial  operations  of  the  last  fifty  years. 

Rotten  boroughs  were  places  in  England,  which,  from  their  ancient 
prosperity  or  population,  were  entitled  to  send  members  to  the 
House  of  Commons.  Though  decayed  in  wealth,  and  inhabited 
only  by  from  one  to  twenty  families,  they  still  enjoyed  the  privi- 
lege of  electing  members,  till  they  were  deprived  of  their  privi- 
leges, by  the  Parliamentary  Reform  Bill,  in  1832. 

Royal  .Academy,  an  association  established  in  London,  by  the  royal 
charter,  in  the  year  1768,  for  the  encouragement  of  works  of  art 


GLOSSARY.  387 

It  consists  of  forty  members,  called  Royal  Academicians,  twenty 
Associates,  and  six  Associate  Engravers.  It  possesses  a  collection 
of  casts  and  models  from  ancient  statues,  valuable  paintings,  &c. 
It  has  an  annual  exhibition  of  works  of  art,  and  awards  medals 
for  the  best  paintings,  drawings,  sculptures,  &.c. 

Royal  Institution,  a  society  established  in  London,  A.  D.  1800,  for 
facilitating  the  general  introduction  of  useful  mechanical  inven- 
tions and  improvements,  and  for  teaching,  by  courses  of  philosoph- 
ical lectures  and  experiments,  the  application  of  science  to  the 
common  purposes  of  life.  It  is  chiefly  indebted,  for  its  origin,  to 
our  countryman,  Count  Runiford.  It  has  a  spacious  building, 
appropriated  to  its  use,  in  which  are  a  library,  cabinet  of  miner- 
als, chemical  laboratory,  repository  of  models  of  useful  machines, 
lecture-theatre,  &c.  &c. 

Rumford,  Count,  (Benjamin  Thompson,)  was  born  in  Woburn, 
Massachusetts,  in  1752.  He  went  to  England,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Revolutionary  War,  having  espoused  her  side  in  the 
contest,  and  was  engaged  in  the  '  Foreign  Office.'  At  the  close  of 
the  War,  he  commanded  a  regiment  of  Dragoons.  On  his  return 
to  England,  in  1784,  he  was  knighted.  Soon  after,  he  entered  into 
the  service  of  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  by  whom  he  was  created  a 
General  and  Count,  as  a  reward  for  various  important  services 
rendered.  In  1799,  he  returned  to  England,  and  occupied  himself 
in  scientific  and  chemical  researches,  particularly  on  the  subject  of 
heat.  He  was  the  principal  founder  of '  The  Royal  Institution  of 
Great  Britain,'  mentioned  in  the  preceding  article.  Preferring  the 
climate  of  France  to  any  other,  he  resided  in  that  country,  and 
died,  near  Paris,  in  1814. 

Russia,  a  powerful  empire,  stretching  over  half  Europe  and  the  whole 
of  Northern  Asia,  possessing  large  territories  on  the  western  coast 
of  North  America,  and  comprising  about  one  seventh  part  of  the 
habitable  globe.  The  population  exceeds  sixty  millions. 

Sabcean,  belonging  to  a  province  of  Arabia,  called  Yemen,  of  which 
the  chief  city  was  Saba.  The  country  produces  myrrh,  frankin- 
cense, and  other  fragrant  gums. 

Sabines,  a  warlike  and  pastoral  people,  anciently  dwelling  in  Italy, 
and  peopling  the  mountainous  country  of  the  Apennines.  They 
were  frequently  at  war  with  the  Romans. 

Safety  lamp,  the  miner's  lamp,  invented  by  Sir  H.  Davy,  which 
consists  of  a  small  light,  fixed  in  n  lantern  or  cylinder  of  fine  wire 
network.  The  body  of  the  lamp  is  of  solid  metal,  screwed  closely 
to  the  cylinder,  so  as  to  leave  no  opening  into  it.  By  this  simple 
arrangement,  the  flame  can  never  come  into  such  a  contact  with 
the  inflammable  gas,  or  fire-damp,  as  to  produce  those  dreadful 
explosions  so  frequent  in  mines,  prior  to  this  invaluable  invention. 

Sage  of  the  Academy,  see  Plato. 

St.  Lawrence,  a  large  river  of  North  America,  forming,  for  a  consid- 
erable distance,  the  boundary  between  the  United  States  and  Can- 
ada, and  flowing  in  a  northeasterly  direction  into  the  Gulf  of  St 
Lawrence,  and  the  Ocean. 

St.  Paul's,  a  large  cathedral  in  London,  built  by  Sir  Christopher 
Wren,  between  the  years  1675  and  1710,  the  former  cathedral, 


388  GLOSSARY. 

on  the  same  spot  having  been  several  times  injured  and  destroyed 
by  fires.  The  present  noble  fabric  holds  the  most  distinguished 
place  among  the  modern  works  of  architecture  in  Great  Britain, 
and  is  second  only  to  St.  Peter's,  at  Rome. 

St.  Peter's,  a  magnificent  church  at  Rome,  the  largest  in  the  world, 
built,  at  a  vast  expense,  out  of  the  papal  revenues,  between  the 
years  1506  and  1614. 

St.  Petersburg,  the  capital  of  Russia,  and  a  beautiful  and  splendid 
city.  The  population,  in  1830,  was  nearly  half  a  million.  The 
churches,  palaces,  and  other  public  buildings,  are  numerous  and 
magnificent. 

Sandstone,  a  kind  of  stone,  very  common,  and  of  great  importance 
for  building.  It  is  composed  of  grains  of  some  more  ancient  rock, 
once  in  the  state  of  loose  sand,  and  held  together  by  a  cement. 
For  an  account  of  the  tracks  of  remarkable  animals  in  the  sand- 
stone on  the  Connecticut  River,  mentioned  on  page  252,  see  '  Sa- 
cred Philosophy  of  the  Seasons,'  Vol.  i.  pages  352—354,  '  SCHOOL 
LIBRARY,'  Vol.  vii.,  Larger  Series. 

Sandwich  Islands,  a  cluster  of  ten  islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
The  natives  are  gentle  and  intelligent,  and,  since  their  adoption  of 
Christianity,  have  exceedingly  improved.  They  were  first  discov- 
ered by  Captain  Cook,  in  1778.  There  are  now  in  the  islands  a 
thousand  schools,  having  fifty  thousand  scholars. 

Saratoga,  a  town  in  New  York,  memorable  as  the  place  where 
General  Burgoyne  surrendered  the  British  army,  of  nearly  six 
thousand  men,  to  General  Gates,  October  17,  1777.  It  is  now  a 
place  of  great  resort,  on  account  of  its  mineral  springs. 

Saturn,  one  of  the  planets  of  our  system,  surrounded  by  a  ring,  or 
luminous  circle,  which  is  estimated  to  be  nearly  one  hundred  and 
twenty-nine  miles  in  thickness. 

Saxon,  the  language  of  a  warlike  and  piratical  people,  called  Saxons, 
one  of  the  great  Northern  German  tribes.  In  the  middle  of  the 
fifth  century,  under  Hengist  and  Ilorsa,  they  founded  the  Saxon 
kingdom  in  Great  Britain. 

Schiller,  (Frederic,)  one  of  the  most  illustrious  poets  and  dramatists 
of  Germany,  was  born  in  1759.  He  was  intended  for  the  profes- 
sion of  the  law,  but  his  zeal  for  literature  led  him  to  devote  him- 
self to  poetry,  history,  and  the  drama.  He  was  an  ardent  lover  of 
all  that  is  noble  and  beautiful,  and  his  poems  abound  in  magnifi- 
cence and  energy.  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Goethe.  He 
died  at  Weimar,  at  the  age  of  forty-six. 

Schoolmen,  a  name  given,  during  the  middle  ages,  to  a  class  of  phi- 
losophers and  logicians,  who  taught  a  peculiar  kind  of  theological 
philosophy.  The  name  is  derived  from  the  schools  founded  by  the 
Emperor  Charlemagne,  for  the  education  of  the  clergy. 

Scipio.  There  were  several  celebrated  Romans  of  this  name  ;  two 
of  whom,  Publius  Cornelius,  and  Publius  ^milianus,  were  sur- 
named  Africanus,  from  having  both  distinguished  themselves  by 
their  conquests  in  Africa.  The  former  died,  B.C.  184,  and  the 
latter,  B.  C.  128.  Lucius  Cornelius,  brother  of  Publius  Cornelius, 
was  surnamed  Asiaticus,  from  his  triumphs  in  Asia.  These,  as  well 


GLOSSARY.  389 

as  others  of  the  same  name,  were  meu  of  great  military  skill,  unit- 
ing courage  with  magnanimity,  and  patriotism  with  integrity. 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  the  most  popular  author  of  the  present  century, 
was  born  at  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  in  1771.  He  is  the  author  of 
'  Marmion,'  '  the  Lady  of  the  Lake,'  and  many  other  romantic  po- 
ems, describing  the  national  Scottish  manners  of  the  feudal  ages  ; 
of  a  series  of  national  romances,  called  the  '  Waverley  Novels,' 
(from  the  title  of  the  first  of  the  series,)  of  great  genius  anc  'nterest  ; 
and  of  many  biographical  and  other  literary  works.  He  died,  at 
Abbotsford,  September  21, 1832,  in  the  sixty-second  year  of  his  age. 
Scythia,  the  ancient  name  of  an  extensive  country  in  the  eastern 
part  of  Europe  and  western  part  of  Asia,  now  comprised  within  the 
limits  of  Russia. 

Selden,  (John,)  an  eminent  English  writer  upon  politics  and  antiqui- 
ties, born  in  1584  and  died  in  1654.  He  was  repeatedly  impris- 
oned, by  royal  authority,  on  account  of  his  bold  language  in  Par- 
liament against  royal  usurpations. 

Senate  house,  in  ancient  Rome,  the  place  of  assemblage  of  the 
Senate,  a  council  composed  of  the  chief  men  of  the  state,  and 
exercising,  in  the  earlier  periods  of  Roman  history,  the  chief  au- 
thority of  the  nation. 

Seneca,  (Marcus  Annaeus,)  a  learned  rhetorician  and  philosopher  of 
ancient  Rome,  who  flourished  during  the  first  half  century  after 
Christ.  He  was  the  tutor  of  the  youthful  Emperor  Nero.  Being 
suspected,  by  that  prince,  of  being  connected  with  a  conspiracy 
against  his  life,  he  was  put  to  death,  A.  D.  66. 
Serf,  a  vassal,  a  slave. 

Sesostris,  an  Egyptian  king  and  conqueror,  who  flourished  about 
fifteen  centuries  before  Christ,  and  was  reputed  to  have  been  the 
author  of  various  stupendous  works  of  public  improvement. 
Settlement,  in  a  parish  in  England,  is  a  right  of  maintenance,  in  case 
of  poverty,  by  the  parish,  obtained  by  a  residence  for  a  certain 
time  in  the  same.  See  page  87. 

Seven  Years'  War,  a  war,  which  continued  from  1756  to  1763, 
between  France,  Austria,  Saxony,  and  Russia,  on  one  side,  and 
Prussia  and  England,  on  the  other.  In  Europe,  Frederic  of  Prus- 
sia, against  whom  the  war  was  principally  waged,  displayed  in  it 
great  military  ability.  In  America,  the  English  and  French  colo- 
nies were  also  involved. 

Shakspeare,  (William,)  was  born  in  1564,  and  died  in  1616.  Of 
the  incidents  of  his  life,  little  is  known  with  accuracy.  He  left 
Stratford  upon  the  Avon,  his  birthplace,  for  London,  at  about 
the  age  of  twenty-two,  and  became  an  actor  at  the  Globe  theatre. 
He  soon  commenced  writing  for  the  stage,  and  continued  to  do  so 
till  within  a  few  years  of  his  death.  The  character  of  Shakspeare's 
genius  is  too  universally  known  to  require  comment.  The  supreme 
place,  in  the  realm  of  poetry  and  creative  thought,  seeins  to  be  ac- 
corded to  him  by  the  general  consent  of  cultivated  and  uncultivated 
minds. 

Shetland,  J\~ew  South,  a  cluster  of  islands  south  of  Cape  Horn,  so 
named  from  the  Shetland  Islands,  a  cluster  north  of  Scotland 

33* 


390  GLOSSARY. 

Shorthand,  the  art  of  writing,  in  an  abbreviated  manner,  in  Icsa 
space  than  is  occupied  by  common  writing,  and  with  greater  rapid 
ity,  by  employing  simple  marks,  in  place  of  letters,  and  sometimes 
of  words  and  sentences. 

Siberian,  belonging  to  Siberia,  a  vast  country  comprising  all  the 
north  part  of  Asia,  and  subject  to  intense  cold. 

Sicily,  a  large  island  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  south  of  Italy,  and 
remarkable  for  its  fine  climate,  populousness,  and  fertility. 

Silex,  a  mineral,  forming  the  principal  ingredient  in  pure  flint. 

Sirius,  the  most  brilliant  of  the  fixed  stars,  the  largest  in  the  constel- 
lation or  cluster  called  Canis  Major,  or  the  Great  Dog. 

Smith,  (John,)  Captain,  a  celebrated  adventurer,  born  in  England, 
in  1579.  When  about  the  age  of  twenty,  he  entered  into  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  then  at  war  with  the  Turks,  and 
distinguished  himself  by  his  bravery.  He  was  at  length  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Turks,  (being  left  for  dead  on  the  battle  field,)  but 
escaped,  and,  returning  to  England,  joined  the  Virginia  expedition, 
in  1606.  His  courage  and  energy  soon  gave  him  the  presidency 
of  the  colony,  at  Jamestown,  and  in  the  protracted  war  with  the 
Indians,  he  displayed  all  his  customary  daring  and  intrepidity. 
He  died  at  London,  in  1631.  For  a  full  biography  of  Smith,  see 
'Lives  of  Eminent  Individuals,'  Vol.  i.,  being  Vol.  iv.  of  'THE 
SCHOOL  LIBRARY,'  Larger  Series. 

Snowshoes,  frames,  shaped  like  a  large  shoe-sole,  and  strapped  to 
the  feet,  to  support  the  body  in  walking  upon  the  surface  of  snow, 
without  sinking,  much  used  by  the  Indians  and  Canadians. 

Socrates,  an  illustrious  philosopher  and  moralist  of  antiquity,  born 
at  Athens,  B.  C.  470.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  model  of  wisdom 
and  goodness,  and  to  have  passed  his  life  in  teaching  his  fellow 
citizens  their  religious,  moral,  and  social  duties.  He  taught  and 
insisted  upon  self  knowledge,  self  control,  temperance,  justice, 
and  the  great  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  The  great 
Plato  was  one  of  his  disciples.  He  was  unjustly  condemned  to 
death,  by  a  popular  tribunal,  upon  the  wicked  and  absurd  charge 
of  corrupting  the  Athenian  youth,  and  sentenced  to  drink  hemlock, 
(a  deadly  poison,)  at  the  age  of  seventy.  His  calm  and  tranquil 
death  was  in  accordance  with  the  character  of  his  long  life. 

Solar  walk,  the  ecliptic,  the  apparent  path  described  by  the  sun,  in 
the  heavens,  during  the  year. 

Solon,  a  celebrated  Athenian  lawgiver,  who  flourished  about  the 
year  B.  C.  600.  He  was  one  of  the  "  seven  wise  men"  of  Greece, 
and  his  system  of  laws  was  just  and  merciful. 

Solstice,  the  name  given  to  those  two  opposite  points  in  the  earth's 
orbit,  and  to  the  two  periods  of  the  year,  at  which  the  sun,  in  ref- 
erence to  his  progress  north  and  south,  appears  to  stand  still.  The 
Summer  solstice  takes  place  about  the  twenty-first  of  June,  the 
Winter  solstice,  about  the  twenty-first  of  December. 

Solyman  the  magnificent  was  proclaimed  Sultan  in  1520.  He  was 
the  greatest  of  all  the  Ottoman  emperors,  and  extended  his  pow- 
er by  numerous  victories,  both  in  Europe  and  Asia.  His  political 
wisdom  was  no  less  remarkable  than  his  military  skill  ;  he  caused 
the  courts  of  law  to  be  respected,  and  equity  and  justice  to  be 


GLOSSARY. 

administered.  He  was  very  ambitious  and  indefatigable  in  hia 
schemes  of  conquest,  and  died  in  1566,  while  besieging  a  city  in 
Hungary. 

Sophocles,  an  illustrious  Greek  poet,  born  B.  C.  495.  He  died  at  a 
very  advanced  age.  His  tragedies  are  written  in  a  dignified  and 
elevated  style,  with  great  elegance  of  versification,  and  purity  of 
language. 

Spanish,  Main,  the  Atlantic  coast  along  the  north  part  of  South 
America,  from  the  Leeward  (or  North  Caribbee)  Islands  to  the 
isthmus  of  Darien. 

Sparta,  one  of  the  states  of  ancient  Greece,  in  the  southeastern  part 
of  the  Peloponnesus.  The  Spartans  were  the  rivals,  in  war,  of  the 
Athenians,  and  were  as  remarkable  for  simplicity  and  severity  of 
manners,  as  were  the  latter  for  cultivation  and  refinement. 

Spartacus,  a  Thracian  gladiator,  who  organized  an  extensive  con- 
spiracy among  the  slaves  in  Italy.  By  his  courage  and  military 
skill,  he  gained  several  victories  over  the  flower  of  the  Roman 
army,  but  was  at  last  defeated  and  slain,  A.  D.  71,  though  com- 
manding an  army  of  some  sixty  thousand  men. 

Spenser,  (Edmund,)  a  celebrated  English  poet,  born  in  London, 
about  A.  D.  1553.  His  great  poem  is  called  the  '  Faery  Queen,' 
and  is  full  of  beautiful  sentiment  and  imagery,  and  exquisite  de- 
scriptions of  character.  He  died  at  the  age  of  forty-six. 

Stael,  Madame  de,  a  woman  of  extraordinary  intellectual  power, 
and  the  most  distinguished  female  writer  of  her  age.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  Monsieur  Necker,  a  banker  and  minister  of  finance, 
and  was  born  at  Paris,  in  1766.  Her  wit  and  conversational  pow- 
ers rendered  her  the  ornament  of  Parisian  society.  Her  works  are 
numerous.  She  passed  many  years  in  exile,  at  Geneva,  being  for- 
bidden by  Bonaparte  to  dwell  near  Paris.  She  died  in  1817. 

Standish,  Miles,  one  of  the  founders  of  Plymouth  colony,  who  pos- 
sessed some  military  skill,  and  was  generally  Captain  of  the  small 
bodies  of  soldiers  which  were  drafted  from  time  to  time  to  oppose 
the  Indian  attacks. 

Stark,  (John,)  a  brave  general  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  He 
commanded  at  the  battle  of  Bennington,  when  the  British  and 
German  mercenaries  were  defeated  with  great  loss,  and  one  thous- 
and stand  of  arms  taken  from  them.  He  died  in  1822,  at  the 
age  of  ninety-three  years.  For  a  full  life  of  Stark,  see  '  Lives  of 
Eminent  Individuals,'  Vol.  i.,  being  Vol.  iv.  of '  THE  SCHOOL.  LI- 
BRARY,' Larger  Series. 

Stars  and  stripes,  the  American    standard,  which   bears   thirteen, 
stripes,  for  the  number  of  the  original  states,  and  as  many  star» 
as  the  number  of  states  for  the  time  being. 

Steppes,  extensive  dry  plains  in  Asia,  capable  of  some  cultivation, 
and  affording  pasturage  for  numerous  herds  of  cattle. 

Stoicism.  The  principles  of  the  Stoics',  one  of  the  sects  of  ancient 
philosophers,  encouraged  a  stern,  unbending,  rigid  virtue,  and  a 
resolute  contempt  for  pain  and  suffering.  Hence  Stoicism  signi- 
fies unyielding  firmness,  inflexibility,  insensibility  to  passion  and 
affection. 

Stolidity,  stupidity,  foolishness. 


392 

Strata,  (plural  of  stratum,)  beds  or  layers,  in  which  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  minerals  forming  the  crust  of  the  earth  are  disposed. 

Sunder  land ,  Lord,  was  successively  a  minister  of  state  under 
Charles  the  Second,  James  the  Second,  and  William  the  Third. 
He  died  in  1702.  He  has  been  called  "  a  man  who  changed  his 
party  as  easily  as  his  dress." 

Sunium,  a  promontory  of  Attica,  in  Greece,  about  thirty  miles  from 
Athens.  There  was  formerly  a  beautiful  temple  of  Minerva  here, 
some  of  the  remains  of  which  are  still  to  be  seen.  Several  col- 
umns are  standing,  which  have  obtained  for  the  promontory  the 
name  of  Cape  Colonna,  or  Cape  of  the  Column.  See  Jtfinerva. 

Swiss,  belonging  to  Switzerland,  a  mountainous  country  in  Europe, 
lying  between  France,  Germany,  and  Italy. 

Syria,  a  country  in  the  west  of  Asia,  forming  part  of  the  Ottoman 
empire.  It  lies  on  the  east  coast  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  Pal- 
estine, or  the  Holy  Land,  is  in  Syria. 

Tacitus,  (Caius  Cornelius,)  a  Roman  historian,  remarkable  for  his 
brief  and  condensed  style,  his  philosophical  acuteness,  and  thor- 
ough penetration  into  character.  He  flourished  during  the  first 
century  after  Christ. 

Tartars,  inhabitants  of  Tartary,  an  extensive  country  in  Asia. 

Tasso,  (Torquato,)  one  of  the  greatest  of  Italian  poets,  was  born  in 
1544.  He  early  manifested  a  strong  inclination  to  poetry,  and 
produced,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  an  epic  poem,  which  was  re- 
ceived with  great  admiration.  His  great  work,  the  '  Jerusalem 
Delivered,'  composed  with  great  poetic  fervor,  was  elaborated 
with  extreme  care.  The  latter  years  of  Tasso's  life  were  clouded 
with  misfortune.  He  was  confined  in  a  madhouse,  for  a  consider- 
able time,  by  order  of  his  former  patron  and  friend,  the  Duke  of 
Ferrara,  and  treated  with  great  cruelty.  He  died  in  1595. 

Tattooing,  the  practice  of  marking  the  skin  with  various  figures,  by 
pricking  it  with  sharp  instruments,  and  staining  it  permanently  with 
different  colors.  It  prevails  among  various  tribes  of  savages,  par- 
ticularly in  the  South  Sea  Islands. 

Technicalities,  terms  and  phrases  belonging  to  some  art  or  science, 
and  not  in  common  use. 

Telescope,  an  instrument,  formed  by  inserting  lenses  (curved  glass- 
es) in  a  tube,  and  which  enables  us  to  see  distant  objects,  and  the 
heavenly  bodies,  with  as  great  distinctness  as  if  they  were  at  a 
much  less  distance.  See  Galileo. 

Terence,  or  Terentius,  (Publius,)  a  Roman  writer  of  comedies,  born 
about  the  year  B.  C.  194.  He  was  born  in  Carthage,  in  Africa, 
and,  when  a  child,  was  brought  as  a  slave  to  Rome  where  he  re- 
ceived a  good  education,  and,  having  been  emancipated,  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  intimacy  of  some  of  the  chief  men  of  Rome.  His 
comedies  were  much  admired. 

Thebes,  an  ancient  city  in  Upper  Egypt,  famous  for  the  immense  ex- 
tent of  its  magnificent  public  buildings  and  monuments,  the  ruins 
of  which,  at  the  present  day,  are  objects  of  great  interest  to  the 
traveller. 

Thermopylae,  a  narrow  pass,  in  the  northern  part  of  Greece,  between 
Mount  ./Eta  and  the  sea.  It  was  here,  that  a  desperate  resist- 


GLOSSARY.  393 

ance  was  made,  by  a  body  of  three  hundred  Spartans,  under  Le- 
onidas,  against  the  Persian  army,  B.  C.  480. 

Thesaurus,  literally,  a  treasury,  magazine,  or  storehouse.  Hence 
the  word  is  applied  to  large  works,  such  as  complete  dictionaries, 
collections  of  antiquities,  &c. 

Thescum,  or  temple  of  Theseus,  a  splendid  temple  of  Athens,  sacred 
to  Theseus,  an  ancient  hero  and  king  of  Athens.  The  remains  of 
the  temple  are  in  good  condition,  but  some  modern  additions  have 
been  made  to  it. 

Thrace,  in  ancient  geography,  a  mountainous  country  lying  north- 
west of  Macedonia,  and  bounded  by  the  Black  and  /Egean  Seas. 

Thule.  The  ancients  gave  this  name  to  the  most  northerly  country 
with  which  they  were  acquainted.  It  is  uncertain  what  spot  waa 
designated  by  the  name  ;  it  is  supposed,  by  some,  to  have  been 
the  coast  of  Norway  ;  by  others,  Iceland. 

Timbrel,  or  tambourine,  a  kind  of  drum,  hung  with  bells,  and  beat- 
en with  the  hand. 

Tissue,  cloth  interwoven  with  gold  and  silver,  or  figured  colors  ; 
any  variegated  woven  fabric. 

Titian,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  Italian  painters,  remarkable 
for  his  faithful  imitation  of  Nature,  and  unrivalled  in  his  portraits 
and  landscapes,  was  born  in  1480,  and  died  at  the  age  of  ninety-six. 

Tomahawk,  an  Indian  war-hatchet. 

Torricelli,  an  illustrious  natural  philosopher  of  Italy,  was  born  in 
1608,  and  died  in  1647.  He  discovered  the  principle  of  the  pres- 
sure of  the  atmosphere,  according  to  which,  water  ascends  in 
pumps,  and  invented  the  barometer,  an  instrument  for  showing 
the  degree  of  this  pressure.  See  '  Pursuit  of  Knowledge  under 
Difficulties,'  Vol.  i.,  being  Vol.  xiv.  of 'THE  SCHOOL,  LIBRARY.' 

Tower  of  London,  see  London,  tower  of. 

Trajan,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  Roman  emperors,  was 
raised  to  the  Imperial  throne,  A.  D.  97.  He  extended  the  limits 
of  the  Roman  empire,  and  adorned  Rome  with  many  magnificent 
works  of  architecture. 

Transcendental,  in  the  philosophy  of  the  mind,  is  that  which  trans- 
cends, or  goes  beyond,  the  limit  of  ordinary  experience,  or  the  per- 
ceptions of  the  senses. 

Transcendental  mathematics  is  a  branch  of  mathematics  relating  to 
certain  curves  or  lines  which  cannot  be  explained  by  the  ordinary 
operations  of  algebra,  and  are  called  transcendent,  or  transcen- 
dental. 

Tully,  or  Tullius,  one  of  the  surnames  of  Cicero,  which  see. 

Tupac  Amaru,  (Jose  Gabriel,)  a  Peruvian  Indian,  who  made  an  at- 
tempt, in  1780,  to  reestablish  the  '  empire  of  the  Sun,'  or  ancient 
form  of  government  in  Peru,  and  to  overthrow  the  Spaniards.  A 
general  rising  of  the  Indians  took  place,  under  his  guidance,  and 
the  war  lasted  for  two  years  ;  but  the  Indians  were  subdued,  and 
their  leader  was  put  to  the  cruel  death  of  being  torn  asunder  by 
wild  horses. 

Turks,  the  subjects  of  the  Turkish  or  Ottoman  Empire,  comprehend- 
ing Turkey  in  Europe  and  Turkey  in  Asia.  The  correct  national 
appellation  is  Osmanli.  See  Ottoman. 


394  GLOSSARY. 

Tuscan,  belonging  to  Tuscany,  a  country  of  Italy.  The  language 
of  the  Tuscans  is  considered  the  purest  and  finest  in  Italy  ;  hence 
the  phrase,  '  Tuscan  softness,'  to  express  the  sweetness  and  mel- 
ody of  the  Italian  language.  The  term  '  Tuscan  artist'  is  applied 
by  Milton  to  Galileo,  a  Tuscan  by  birth. 

fycho  Brake,  a  celebrated  Danish  astronomer,  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. His  system  of  astronomy,  that  the  sun  and  heavenly  bodies 
revolve  round  the  earth,  was  soon  rejected  by  succeeding  astrono- 
mers, in  favor  of  that  of  Copernicus,  (which  see  ;)  but  his  observa- 
tions and  improvements  in  astronomical  instruments,  were  of  great 
value. 

Tyre,  one  of  the  most  wealthy  and  important  commercial  cities  of 
antiquity,  situated  in  Phoenicia.  Carthage  was  a  colony  from 
Tyre.  Tyrian,  belonging  to  Tyre. 

Ulysses,  King  of  Ithaca,  one  of  the  Grecian  chiefs  who  fought  at  the 
siege  of  Troy.  His  adventures  form  the  subject  of  the  Odyssey 
of  Homer.  He  was  the  husband  of  Penelope,  celebrated  for  her 
conjugal  fidelity,  and  the  father  of  Telemachus.  He  was  noted 
for  his  sagacity  and  craftiness. 

United  Colonies.  In  1643,  the  colonies  of  Massachusetts,  New  Ply- 
mouth, Connecticut, -and  New  Haven,  formed  a  confederacy  under 
the  name  of  the  United  Colonies  of  New  England,  which  lasted 
about  forty  years,  till  they  were  deprived  of  their  charters  by  King 
James  the  First.  The  name  was  afterwards  applied  to  all  the  col- 
onies, before  the  title  '  United  States'  was  assumed. 

Uranus,  a  name  sometimes  given  to  the  planet  Herschel. 

Valdarno,  or  Val  d'Arno,  the  valley  of  the  Arno,  a  river  in  Italy, 
which  runs  by  Florence. 

Vancouver,  (George,)  a  midshipman  under  Captain  Cook,  and  af- 
terwards commander  of  a  British  expedition  of  discovery  to  the 
North  Pacific  Ocean.  He  died  in  1798. 

Vega,  (Lopez  Felix  de,)  or  Lope  de  Vega,  a  celebrated  Spanish 
dramatic  poet.  He  was  a  very  voluminous  writer,  and  it  is  sup- 
posed that  some  eight  hundred  of  his  plays  were  represented  on 
the  stage.  He  possessed  great  dramatic  invention,  but  his  pieces 
are  loosely  and  hastily  executed.  He  was  born  in  1562,  and  died 
in  1635. 

Venice,  a  city  of  Italy,  at  the  head  of  the  Adriatic  Sea,  (or  Gulf  of 
Venice,)  once  one  of  the  most  important  commercial  cities  of  Eu- 
rope, and  still  a  city  of  much  commercial  and  manufacturing  busi- 
ness. It  is  built  entirely  upon  small  islands,  having  canals  instead 
of  streets.  Its  population  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
persons. 

Venus,  one  of  the  deities  of  the  ancient  mythology,  and  the  goddess 
of  beauty,  has  been  a  favorite  subject  for  both  painters  and  sculp- 
tors. One  of  the  most  celebrated  statues  of  Venus  is  the  '  Venus 
de  Medici,'  in  the  gallery  at  Florence,  an  ancient  work  of  art,  dis- 
covered in  1695,  and  an  object  of  universal  admiration,  for  its  ex- 
quisite beauty  of  form  and  proportion. 

Vienna,  the  capital  city  of  Austria,  situated  on  the  river  Danube, 
and  containing  upwards  of  three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants. 

Villiers,  (George,  Duke  of  Buckingham,)  an  unworthy  favorite  of 


GLOSSARY.  395 

James  the  First  and  Charles  the  First  of  England,  was  born  A.  D. 
1592,  and  died  by  assassination,  in  1628.  By  his  natural  graces 
of  person  and  manner,  he  first  gained  the  affection  of  King  James, 
who  invested  him  with  numerous  high  and  profitable  offices,  and 
at  last  with  almost  unlimited  control  of  all  the  honors  and  emolu- 
ments of  the  kingdom.  He  was  possessed  of  inordinate  ambition, 
and  was  unfaithful  even  to  the  King  who  trusted  and  honored  him. 
The  parliament,  under  Charles  the  First,  pronounced  him  a  traitor 
to  the  liberty  of  his  country,  and  prepared  to  impeach  him  ;  but 
the  favor  of  the  King  supported  him  against  all  attacks. 

Virgil,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  poets  of  ancient  Rome,  was 
born  in  the  year  B.  C.  70.  He  went  to  Rome  at  about  the  age  of 
thirty,  gained  the  favor  of  Maecenas,  and  became  an  intimate  friend 
of  the  Emperor  Augustus.  He  died  in  the  fifty-second  year  of  his 
age.  His  disposition  was  mild  and  gentle,  his  demeanor  modest. 
His  poetry  is  marked  by  sweetness  and  dignity,  without  possessing 
the  highest  energy  and  sublimity.  But  he  is  generally  regarded  as 
the  first  poet  of  his  age. 

Viscera  ;  the  interior  parts  of  the  body  ;  the  heart,  lungs,  liver, 
stomach,  intestines,  &c.  The  ancients  examined  the  viscera  of 
animals  freshly  killed,  under  the  erroneous  idea  that  they  could 
draw  from  them  omens  of  future  events. 

Wampum,  strings  of  pieces  of  perforated  shells,  used,  instead  of 
money,  by  the  American  Indians. 

The  War  of  1755,  between  the  French  and  English  colonies  in  North 
America,  was  carried  on  from  1755  to  1763,  forming  one  branch 
of  the  Seven  Years'  War,  (which  see.) 

Washington,  (George,)  was  born  February  22,  1732,  and  died  De- 
cember 14,  1799.  For  a  biography  of  Washington,  see  '  THE 
SCHOOL  LIBRARY,'  Larger  Series. 

Watt,  James,  a  man  remarkable  for  his  acquisitions  in  science  and 
natural  philosophy,  and  for  his  improvements  in  the  steam-engine, 
was  born  in  1736,  and  died  in  1819.  For  a  biographical  sketch 
of  his  life,  see  '  Pursuit  of  Knowledge  under  Difficulties,'  Vol. 
ii.,  forming  volume  xv.  of  '  THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY,'  Larger 
Series. 

Weaver's  beam.  In  the  process  of  weaving,  the  warp,  or  threads 
running  lengthways  of  the  cloth,  are  wound  upon  a  round  beam  or 
roller. 

West,  (Benjamin,)  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1738.  He  early 
manifested  a  genius  for  drawing  and  painting,  and  followed  these 
pursuits  with  eagerness,  notwithstanding  the  limited  opportunities 
for  improvement  which  his  situation  afforded  him.  In  his  eigh- 
teenth year,  he  established  himself  as  a  portrait  painter  in  Phila- 
delphia. He  afterwards  visited  Italy,  and  finally  fixed  his  resi- 
dence in  England,  where  he  was  much  favored  by  George  the 
Third,  and  employed  upon  various  historical  and  scriptural  paint- 
ings. In  1792,  he  became  President  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Painting,  in  London,  (an  institution  for  the  encouragement  of  this 
art,  founded  in  1768.)  He  died  in  1817.  His  productions  are 
very  numerous,  and  some  of  them  of  a  high  order  ;  but  they  gen- 
erally show  more  of  the  skill  of  art,  than  of  the  fire  of  genius. 


396  GLOSSARY. 

Westminster  Jlbbey,  an  edifice  in  Westminster,  (which  forms  the 
part  of  London  most  inhabited  by  the  higher  classes,)  containing 
various  chapels,  and  used  as  the  place  of  coronation  of  the  English 
kings.  It  contains  monuments  to  most  of  the  illustrious  men  of 
England. 

Whitney,  Eli,  was  born  at  Westborough,  Massachusetts,  in  1765, 
and  died  in  1825.  He  was  buried  at  New  Haven,  and  over  his 
remains  a  beautiful  monument  has  been  erected  to  his  memory. 
He  was  an  able  and  ingenious  mechanician,  and  is  well  known  as 
the  inventor  of  the  cotton-gin,  a  machine  for  separating  the  seeds 
from  the  downy  fibre  of  the  cotton,  an  operation  previously  per- 
formed slowly,  and  with  great  labor,  by  hand.  For  a  description 
of  this  machine,  see  Bigelow's  'Useful  Arts,'  Vol.  i.  page  111, 
being  the  eleventh  volume  of 'THE  SCHOOL  LIBRARY.'  His 
Life  will  appear  in  a  subsequent  volume  of'  The  School  Library.' 

Whittemore,  (Amos,)  died  at  West  Cambridge  in  1828,  aged  sixty- 
nine.  He  was  the  inventor  of  the  machine  for  sticking  cards,  by 
which  the  wire  is  reeled  off,  cut  of  the  right  length  for  teeth, 
bent,  holes  pricked  in  the  leather,  and  the  teeth  inserted,  till  the 
card  is  completed,  and  all  this  by  a  rapid  operation  of  a  machine, 
which  fills  no  more  space  than  a  small  table. 

Wiclif,or  Wickliffe,  (John,)  was  born  in  Yorkshire,  England,  about 
the  year  1324.  Being  a  bold  thinker  in  religious  matters,  he  took 
a  prominent  stand  against  the  encroachments  and  corruptions  of 
the  Pope  and  Roman  Catholic  clergy,  and  endeavored  to  restore 
the  apostolical  simplicity  and  purity  of  the  primitive  Christian 
Church.  He  was  a  man  of  great  learning,  and  an  ardent  Reform- 
er. He  disavowed  the  spiritual  supremacy  of  the  Pope,  and  con- 
sidered the  confession  of  sins  to  a  priest,  when  sincerely  repented 
of,  as  useless.  Among  his  other  numerous  writings,  he  finished 
a  translation  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  He  died  of  a  paralytic  at- 
tack, in  1384. 

Wilkie,  David,  a  distinguished  painter,  remarkable  for  his  skill  in 
painting  scenes  of  domestic  life,  was  born  in  Scotland,  in  1785. 

Williams    College  is  located  at  Williamstown,  Massachusetts. 

Winthrop,  (John,)  Governor  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  was 
born  in  England  in  1587,  and  came  out  to  America  in  1630,  hav- 
ing been  previously  chosen  Governor. 

Wyse,  a  living  writer  on  Education. 

Yale  College  is  located  at  New  Haven,  in  Connecticut. 

Yorktown,  a  town  in  Virginia,  famous  for  the  capture  of  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  and  his  army  by  the  Americans  under  General  Washington, 
October  19,  1781,  which  was  the  last  important  event  in  the  Rev- 
olutionary War,  and  the  immediate  cause  of  the  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities. 

Young,  (Edward,)  a  distinguished  English  Poet,  who  was  born  in 

1681,  and  died  in  1765.     He  was  the  author  of  several  tragedies, 

but  is  most  known  by  a  serious  poem,  called  the  '  Night  Thoughts,' 

which,  though  sometimes  extravagant  in  language  and  sentiment, 

xhibits  marks  of  considerable  poetical  power  and  genius. 


INDEX. 


A. 

Accident,  discoveries  by,  74,  76. 

Accumulation,  discussion  of  the 
topic  of,  308.  Production  ne- 
cessary to,  308.  The  basis  of 
commerce,  308.  Mutual  ben- 
efit of,  309.  On  the  denuncia- 
tion of,  311.  Influence  of,  on 
human  comfort,  319.  Effect 
of,  in  the  case  of  Stephen  Gi- 
rard,  321.  See  Capital,  and 
Wealth. 

Accumulators,  see  Producers. 

Acorn,  remarks  on  the,  110,  112. 

Adams,  John,  71. 

Adelphic  Union  Society,  Address 
before  the,  in  1837,  249. 

^Eschylua,  Cicero  taught  by,  194. 

Africa,  on  the  inhabitants  of,  192, 
193.  Progress  of  civilization 
in,  203,  204.  Colonization  in, 
203,  205.  Effect  of  insecurity 
of  property  in,  311. 

Ages  of  improvement,  24,  54, 
105,  190. 

Agriculturists,  on  the  intelligence 
and  morals  of,  96. 

Albertus  Magnus,  215. 

Alcseus,  Horace  translates,  24. 

Alchymists,  229. 

Alcuin,  175. 

Alexander  the  Great,  wept,  232. 
Opposition  to,  by  the  Phoeni- 
cians and  Tyrians,  325. 

Alexanders,  50. 

Alexandrian  literature,  24. 

Alexandrian  school,  225. 

34 


Algebra,  128. 

Algiers,  subjection  of,  203. 

Allston,  Washington,  129. 

Almanac,  remarks  on  the,  127. 

Alnwick  castle,  318. 

Alphabetical  signs,  invention  of, 
23,  131,  132,  196,  283,  325. 

Altai  mountains,  50. 

Amaru,  Tupac,  217. 

America,  rights  of,  defended  in 
Parliament,  64.  When  it  may 
be  said  to  have  been  discov- 
ered, 78.  Remarks  on  the 
discovery  of,  and  its  effects, 
102,  109,  326.  See  United 
States. 

American  Antiquarian  Society, 
344. 

American  Revolution,  advocates 
for  the,  in  England,  64.  The 
statesmen  and  generals  of  the, 
158.  Prospects  in  the  time  of 
the,  158.  First  principles  of 
the,  222. 

Amherst  College,  170,  211.  Ad- 
dress before  the  Literary  Soci- 
eties of,  in  1835,  213. 

Anacaona,  61. 

Anatolia,  199. 

Ancients,  their  knowledge  of  con- 
vex lenses,  79.  Their  approach 
to  the  art  of  printing,  80.  Their 
conceptions  of  the  Universe, 
260. 

Animals,  planets  supposed  to  bo, 
230.  Milton's  description  of 
the  creation  of,  230.  Discov- 
E.  E. 


398 


INDEX. 


cry  of  fossil  remains  of,  247, 
252,  253. 

Anson,  Lord,  92. 

Apollonius  the  Rhodian,  24. 

Apple,  deduction  by  Newton  from 
the,  80,  81. 

Arabian  Caliphs,  55. 

Arabs,  algebra  of  the,  128. 

Arcadia,  retreat  of  Christianity 
and  letters  to,  198. 

Archangel,  309. 

Archimedes,  190. 

Architect,  intellectual  and  physi- 
cal powers  requisite  in  the,  130. 

Ariosto  lived  in  poverty,  25. 

Aristophanes  of  Athens,  Socrates 
satirized  by,  256. 

Aristophanes  of  Byzantium,  com- 
pared with  Aristotle,  24. 

Aristotle,  24,  74. 

Arkwright,  Sir  Richard,  77.  Re- 
marks on,  78,  143.  Aided  by 
a  watchmaker,  79.  Sustained 
the  English  nation  through  the 
wars  of  the  French  Revolution, 
109.  A  barber,  151. 

Arkwrights,  188. 

Armies,  274. 

Arms,  on  education  for  bearing, 
339. 

Articles  at  a  morning's  meal,  309. 

Arts,  loss  of,  75.  Depend  on  civ- 
ilized society,  132.  See  Me- 
chanic Arts. 

Asia,  the  abode  of  despotism,  8, 
217.  On  the  regeneration  of, 
202-204. 

Asia  Minor,  American  trade  in, 
52.  Ancient  civilization  in, 
194. 

Astronomers,  of  Chaldsea,  23. 
Telescopes  not  made  by,  125. 

Astronomy,  obligations  of,  to  the 
telescope,  125.  Contemplation 
of,  247.  Effect  of  discoveries 
in,  on  poetry,  260  ;  on  Milton, 
261,  262. 

Atahualpa,  61. 

Athens,  22.  Liberty  and  litera- 
ture of,  23,  37.  Ancient  civ- 
ilization in,  194. 


Athos,  198. 

Atlantic,  navigation  of  the,  by 
steam,  315. 

Atlantis,  41. 

Atmospheric  pressure,  principle 
of,  discovered  by  Torricelli, 
127. 

Attica,  beset  by  barbarians,  50. 

Attraction,  universal,  310. 

Augur,  the  self-taught  sculptor, 
156. 

Augustan  age,  24,  190. 

Australia,  inhabitants  of,  192, 
193. 

Austria,  peasantry  of,  192.  In- 
tellectual attainments  in,  242. 

B. 

Babylon,  fall  of,  198. 

Bacon,  poverty  of,  25.  Compel- 
led to  use  the  Latin  language, 
28.  Alluded  to,  64,  176.  A 
hard  -worker,  115.  Cited  re- 
specting Luther,  219.  Re- 
marks on,  220.  Errors  of,  228. 
Philosophy  of,  233.  Did  not 
adopt  the  Copernican  system, 
261. 

Bacon,  Roger,  175. 

Baines,  on  the  spinning  machine- 
ry of  Great  Britain,  288. 

Ballot-box,  see  Elective. 

Baltic  Sea,  50. 

Barbarians,  49,  50.  On  incur- 
sions by,  179. 

Bavarian  Prince,  King  of  Greece, 
201. 

Bavius,  a  Roman  poet,  225. 

Beads,  Indian,  173. 

Bearing  arms,  on  education  for, 
339. 

Beda,  175. 

Beds,  in  England,  318. 

Bell  and  Lancaster,  189. 

Bell,  reflections  on  the,  294.  Song 
of  the,  295,  note. 

Bengal,  129. 

Bennington,  battle  of,  250. 

Berkeley,  Bishop,  41.    Cited,  41. 

Berkshire  County,  Massachusetts, 
early  settlers  in,  275. 


INDEX. 


399 


Bible,  translated  by  Luther,  220. 

Birmingham,  Sunday  scholars  in, 
146,  note. 

Blacksmith,  Elihu  Burritt  the  lit- 
erary, 343. 

Blackstone,  William,  on  the  lan- 
guage for  law  records,  30.  An- 
ecdote of  James  Otis  respecting 
the  Commentaries  of,  227. 

Blackstone,  William,  first  settler 
of  Boston,  329. 

Bleaching,  100. 

Board  of  Education,  334. 

Bobadilla,  61. 

Boccaccio,  25,  198. 

Body,  what  is  the,  122.  Action 
of  mind  through  the,  123.  On 
provision  for  the,  301.  See 
Mind,  and  Soul. 

Bohemia,  fossil  plants  in,  252. 

Bonaparte,  see  Napoleon. 

Books,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  57.  Most 
read  in  South  America,  71. 
Cheapness  of,  152.  Remarks 
on,  159.  In  ships,  186.  Ef- 
fect of,  on  Greece,  197.  In 
the  days  of  Martin  Luther, 
218  ;  of  Solomon,  225.  Scar- 
city of,  in  England,  in  Queen 
Elizabeth's  time,  318. 

Boston,  character  of  the  com- 
merce of,  328.  Three  histor- 
ical and  topographical  pictures 
of,  828.  At  its  first  settlement, 
329.  At  the  time  of  Bunker's 
Hill  battle,  329.  In  1838,  330. 
The  vicinity  of,  and  its  histori- 
cal associations,  330. 

Bowditch,  Nathaniel,  Practical 
Navigator,  by,  127,  157,  184. 
Scientific  productions  by,  158. 

Bowdoin  College,  211. 

Boxing,  commended  by  an  Eng- 
lish judge,  97. 

Boyle,  Father,  61. 

Bradford,  William,  69. 

Brahe,  Tycho,  238. 

Brewster,  William,  69. 

British  East-India  Company,  pop- 
ulation of  the  territory  of  the, 


91.  Remarks  on  their  trade, 
91. 

British  India,  as  an  instrument  of 
civilization,  207. 

British  ministry,  298. 

Broughams,  336. 

Brown  University,  211. 

Buckland,  Dr.,  description  of  fos- 
sil plants  at  Swina,  by,  252. 
On  work  done  by  machinery 
in  Great  Britain,  288. 

Bunker's  Hill  battle,  329. 

Burgundy,  50,  93. 

Burke,  Edmund,  26.  On  increase 
of  population  in  America,  35. 
On  the  right  of  English  people 
to  appoint  rulers,  58.  Advo- 
cated the  rights  of  America,  64. 
On  the  whale-fishery,  315. 

Burkes,  188. 

Burmah,  167. 

Burritt,  Elihu,  the  literary  black- 
smith, letter  by,  343. 

Busybodies,  relation  of,  to  the 
workingmen's  party,  120. 

C. 

Cadmus,  131,  132. 

Csesar,  Julius,  a  high  priest,  56. 
A  hard  worker,  115.  Empe- 
rors from  the  time  of,  deified, 
218. 

Caesars,  The,  50. 

Calderon,  28. 

Callimachus,  24. 

Calvin,  John,  driven  to  the  use 
of  the  Latin  language,  28. 

Cambridge,  College  at,  founded, 
163.  See  Harvard. 

Cambridgeport,  329. 

Cambyses,  destruction  of  temples 
in  Egypt  by,  50. 

Camoens,  28. 

Canada  thistles,  272. 

Canals  in  the  United  States,  90. 

Cannibals,  183,  184,  193. 

Canova,  the  sculptor,  129. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  193. 

Capital,  meaning  of,  312.  Odium 
respecting,  considered,  312. 
Twofold  use  of,  needed,  314. 


400 


INDEX. 


In  the  whale-fishery,  315.  In 
manufactures,  316,  317.  Ef- 
fects of,  on  human  comfort, 
318.  Not  created  by  credit, 
323.  See  Accumulation,  Prop- 
erty, and  Wealth. 

Capitalists,  identification  of  the 
interests  of,  and  of  the  com- 
munity, 319.  On  the  unfriend- 
ly influence  of,  320. 

Card-machines,  129,  155. 

Carpenter's  stock-in-trade,  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  319. 

Carpets,  substitutes  for,  319. 

Carr,  67. 

Carthage,  check  to  Alexander  by, 
325. 

Cartwright's  power-loom,  143. 

Carver,  John,  69. 

Caste,  in  India,  208. 

Cathedrals,  bells  on,  294. 

Catholic  Reformation,  56. 

Cattle,  in  houses,  318. 

Caucasus,  50. 

Central  America,  71. 

Ceramicus,  201. 

Cervantes,  poverty  of,  25. 

Ceylon,  167. 

Chairs,  want  of,  in  England,  319. 

Chaldasa,  astronomers  of,  23. 

Champollion,  rival  pretensions  of 
Young  and,  55,  note,  189. 

Charming,  William  E.,  345. 

Chantrey,  the  sculptor,  129. 

Character,  individual  and  nation- 
al, 8. 

Charlemagne,  Alcuin's  connexion 
with,  175. 

Charlemagnes,  50. 

Charles  I.,  last  words  of,  335. 

Charles  V.,  divine  right  of,  218. 

Charles  X.,  85. 

Charleston,  S.  C.,  Sunday-school 
jubilee  celebrated  at,  146, 
note. 

Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  first 
settlement  of,  329.  Burnt, 
329. 

Chatham,  Lord,  advocated  the 
rights  of  America,  64.  On 
Franklin,  154. 


Chelsea,  329. 

Children,  on  the  education  of, 
271.  On  allowing  time  for,  to 
attend  school,  272.  See  Edu- 
cation. 

Chili,  309.  > 

Chimneys,  in  England,  318. 

China,  monopoly  of  the  trade  to, 
91.  Civilization  in,  191.  Tea 
from,  309.  American  com- 
merce with,  327. 

China  Sea,  50. 

Cholera,  outrages  in  Hungary,  in 
the  time  of  the,  147. 

Christianity,  as  an  instrument  of 
civilization,  196.  Effects  of, 
on  Greece,  198.  Revealed  to 
the  mind  of  man,  245.  Con- 
nexion of,  with  knowledge, 
245.  See  Religion. 

Christians,  supposed  number  of, 
in  the  world,  191. 

Chronometer,  navigation  aided  by 
the,  103,  184. 

Church  and  State,  56. 

Church  of  England,  opposition  to 
the,  by  the  Puritans,  56. 

Cicero,  almost  translates  Demos- 
thenes and  Plato,  24.  Remarks 
on,  24.  Alluded  to,  29,  40. 
Cited  respecting  forms  of  let- 
ters, 80.  Age  of  improvement 
in  the  time  of,  105.  Citation 
from  The  Orator  by ,  1 94.  The 
masters  of,  194.  On  the  ten- 
dency of  knowledge  to  produce 
higher  displays  of  genius,  268, 
note. 

Ciceros,  188. 

Cincinnatus,  222. 

Circulating  medium,  337. 

Circulation  of  the  blood,  Har- 
vey's discovery  of  the,  235. 
Tract,  to  prove  a  knowledge  of 
the,  in  the  time  of  Solomon, 
236. 

Circumnavigation  of  the  globe,  by 
Sir  Francis  Drake,  48. 

Cities,  on  the  population  of, 
192. 

Civilization,    of   the    Egyptians, 


INDEX. 


401 


Greeks,  and  Romans,  8,  55, 
240.  Dependence  of,  on  so- 
ciety, 121.  Arts  and  sciences 
depend  on,  132.  Remarks  on 
the  present  state  of,  191.  Ret- 
rograde step  in,  193,  195. 
Three  instruments  of,  unknown 
to  antiquity,  195.  Of  the  world, 
contemplated,  205.  Depend- 
ence of,  on  the  mechanic  arts, 
284.  See  Barbarians. 

Clay,  Henry,  34,  note. 

Clergy,  132.  Of  France,  before 
the  Revolution,  244. 

Climate,  effect  of,  9. 

Clocks,  294. 

Clothing,  diminution  of  the  ex- 
pense of,  142.  Of  the  savage 
and  the  civilized,  185,  286. 
Of  leather,  319. 

Coal-mines,  galleries  and  roofs 
of,  in  Bohemia,  253. 

Collars,  worn  by  Saxon  peasant- 
ry, 313. 

Colleges,  instruction  in,  75.  In 
Massachusetts,  170.  In  New 
England,  211,  214.  In  the 
United  States,  214.  See  Ken- 
yon. 

Collinson,  Peter,  82. 

Colombia,  republic  of,  71. 

Colonial  system,  establishment  of 
the,  102. 

Colonization,  African,  203,  205. 

Columbia  River,  Admiral  Van- 
couver piloted  into,  by  Captain 
Gray,  92. 

Columbus,  two  vessels  of,  with- 
out decks,  48.  On  his  idea  of 
the  sphericity  of  the  earth,  78, 
154.  Guided  by  the  magnetic 
pilot,  102,  235,  326.  His  vis- 
ion, 102.  His  poverty,  enter- 
prise, and  discovery  of  Amer- 
ica, 109,  154,  257,  324.  Co- 
pernicus and,  236. 

Combe,  George,  336. 

Comets  within  the  orbit  of  Ura- 
nus, 262. 

Commanders,  military,  131. 

Commerce,  extent  of  American, 

34* 


52.  Under  the  Confederation 
and  Constitution,  89,  91.  Dis- 
cussion of  four  elementary  top- 
ics of,  307.  Accumulation  the 
basis  of,  308,  309.  On  the 
creation  of,  308.  Articles  of, 
on  a  table,  309.  A  system  of 
mutual  accommodation,  310. 
Capital  requisite  in,  315.  On 
the  eve  of  increased  activity, 
325.  Historical  effects  of,  325. 
Led  to  opposition  to  Alex- 
ander, 325  ;  to  the  downfall 
of  the  feudal  system,  326  ;  to 
the  American  Revolution,  327. 
Expansion  of,  after  the  Rev- 
olution, 327.  Three  pic- 
tures of,  in  relation  to  Bos- 
ton, 328. 

Common-School  Convention  at 
Taunton,  remarks  at  the,  in 
1838,  334. 

Common-School  Libraries,  342. 

Common  Schools,  the  system  of, 
13.  Early  establishment  of 
gratuitous,  in  America,  145. 
Views  respecting,  in  Europe, 
145.  Not  time  enough  passed 
in,  270.  The  time  to  be  spent 
in,  271,  272.  Should  be  of  a 
higher  order,  342.  See  Re- 
publican. 

Communities,  importance  of  mor- 
als to,  331. 

Companies,  sec  Crafts. 

Compass,  sec  Mariner's. 

Concord,  Massachusetts,  330. 

Confederation,  navigation  under 
the,  89. 

Congress,  appeal  to,  in  behalf  of 
Fulton's  heirs,  108. 

Connecticut,  contributions  by,  to 
Harvard  College,  173.  Early 
inhabitants  of,  educated  at 
Cambridge,  173. 

Connecticut. River,  valley  of  the, 
213.  Footsteps  in  rocks  on 
the,  252.  Settlements  beyond, 
before  the  French  war,  275. 

Constantine,  pulls  down  the  arch 
of  Trajan,  24.  Countenanced 


402 


INDEX. 


combination  of  Church  and 
State,  56. 

Constantinople,  198.  Ottoman 
power  in,  202. 

Constitution,  effect  of  its  adoption 
on  the  navigating  interest,  89, 
91. 

Constitutions  of  the  United  States, 
popularity  of  the,  in  South 
America,  71. 

Contarini,  furniture  of,  319. 

Convex  lenses,  known  to  the  an- 
cients, 79. 

Cook,  James,  92. 

Copernican  system,  conception  of 
the,  by  Pythagoras,  125.  Not 
adopted  by  Lord  Bacon,  261. 

Copernicus,  229.  Enslaved  by 
errors,  229.  Saw  but  part  of 
the  consequences  of  his  theory, 
236.  Closing  life  of,  a  subject 
for  an  artist,  236.  Death  of, 
237. 

Corn,  preparation  of,  by  the  sav- 
age and  the  civilized,  285. 

Corneille,  25,  28. 

Corporations,  see  Crafts. 

Cortes,  Hernando,  61. 

Cotton,  facts  as  to,  in  the  South- 
ern States,  89.  Preparation  and 
manufacture  of,  100,  128. 

Cotton-gin,  Whitney's,  89,  129, 
188,  note.  Effect  of  the,  on 
cotton  lands,  155. 

Courts  of  justice,  in  England,  336. 

Cousin,  M.,  336. 

Crafts,  oppression  of  mechanics 
by,  in  Europe,  85.  Remarks 
on  the,  85. 

Crassuses,  high  priests,  56. 

Credit,  legitimate  province  of, 
323.  Importance  of,  323.  Cap- 
ital not  created  by,  323.  Ex- 
cessive, 324. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  legal  improve- 
ments under,  30. 

Cuba,  309. 

Cumberland,  residence  of  the 
Earls  of,  319. 

Currency,  337. 

Cuvier,  discovery   of    fossil    re- 


mains of  animals  by,  253.  Ci- 
ted, 253. 

Cyrene,  fall  of,  198. 

Czaki,  Count,  persecution  of,  at 
Klucknow,  147,  148. 

D. 

Dante,  25,  28,  198,  259.  For- 
tunes of,  257.  Spirituality  of, 
265.  Compared  with  Milton, 
266. 

Darius,  325. 

Dark  Ages,  learning  in  the,  175. 
Greece  exempt  from,  198. 

Dartmouth  College,  211. 

Davy,  Sir  Humphrey,  discoveries 
by,  83.  Account  of,  136.  Lec- 
turer in  the  Royal  Institution, 
136,  155.  His  application  of 
galvanic  electricity,  137.  Cit- 
ed on  religious  belief,  137. 

Deaths,  in  an  hour,  159. 

Deities,  emperors  regarded  as, 
218. 

Delfthaven,  66. 

Delphi,  201.     Oracle  at  346. 

Demosthenes,  23.  Cicero  almost 
translates,  24.  Death  of,  40. 
A  hard  worker,  115.  Reflec- 
tions on,  256. 

Denmark,  means  of  education  in, 
215. 

Despotic  governments,  in  Asia, 
8,  217.  Unfavorable  to  intel- 
lectual progress,  11.  Degra- 
dation under,  217.  Military 
despotisms,  217.  Mankind  di- 
vided into  two  classes,  under, 
221. 

Diamonds,  62. 

Dieskau,  John  Harmand,  Baron, 
Colonel  Williams  killed  in  an 
engagement  with,  276.  His 
watch,  294.  Wounded,  294. 

Dionysius,  Cicero  taught  by,  194. 

Discoveries,  remarks  on  modern, 
99  ;  their  effects,  100.  On 
limits  to,  105,  234.  On  si- 
multaneous, 189.  Sources  of, 
234.  See  Accident,  and  Mar- 
itime. 


INDEX. 


403 


Dishonest  people,  not  of  the  work- 

ingmen's  party,  119. 
Divine  right  of  kings,  218,  335. 
Dome  of  St.  Peter's  church,  282. 
Dorchester  Heights,  330. 
Dowse,  Thomas,    a  leatherdres- 

ser,  library    and    paintings    of, 

157. 
Drake,  Sir    Francis,  fleet   of,  for 

circumnavigating  the  globe,  48. 
Drawing,  talent  for,  129. 
Dryden,  poverty  of,  26. 
Dunster,  Henry,  173. 

E. 

Earth,  circuit  of  the,  293. 

East  Boston,  329. 

East  Cambridge,  329. 

Eclipses,  23. 

Education,  provision  for,  in  New 
England,  14,  163,  334.  In 
colleges,  75.  Eminence  with- 
out great  advantages  for,  150. 
In  the  West,  162.  Two  courses 
in  the  establishment  and  support 
of  places  of,  162.  System  of, 
in  Europe,  163.  Of  man- 
kind, 172.  In  former  ages, 
175,  176.  Generality  of,  in 
modern  times,  176.  Objects 
to  be  effected  by,  176.  The 
law  of  our  being,  179.  Per- 
sons to  effect  the  revolution 
by,  179.  Foundation  of  the 
philosophy  of,  180.  The  great 
errand  of  life,  180.  The  mo- 
mentous task  of,  in  America, 
181.  The  difference  made  by, 
183.  Efficacy  of,  compared 
with  shortness  of  time,  187. 
Depends  more  on  the  pupil 
than  on  the  teacher,  188.  One 
great  secret  of  the  power  of, 
189.  Expectations  from,  for 
mankind,  191,  194.  Prospect 
of,  in  Asia  and  Africa,  203. 
Relation  of  the  United  States 
to  the  work  of  general, 
209.  Multiplication  of  the 
means  of,  in  the  United  States, 
214  ;  in  Europe,  215  ;  through- 


out the  world,  216.  Facilities 
for,  favorable  to  profound  sci- 
ence, 224.  Address  at  Wil- 
liams College,  on  superior  and 
popular,  249.  Importance  of, 
251.  The  business  of,  254. 
Two  offices  to  be  performed 
by,  255.  To  discipline  and 
train  the  mind,  255.  Course 
of,  with  great  minds,  256.  To 
improve  the  minds  of  the  mass 
of  the  people,  268.  Of  chil- 
dren, 271.  On  legislating  for, 
273.  The  nurture  of  the  mind, 
299.  Importance  of,  in  a  re- 
public, 334.  Early  provision 
for,  in  Massachusetts  and  New 
England,  334.  Increased  in- 
terest in,  335.  In  England, 
before  and  since  1688,  336. 
In  France,  336.  In  Prussia, 
337.  Importance  of,  in  con- 
nexion with  religion,  346. 
See  Common  Schools,  Knowl- 
edge, Mankind,  Mind,  and  Re- 
publican. 

Egypt,  civilization  in,  8,  194, 
197.  Temples  of,  destroyed 
by  Cambyses,  50.  Monument!* 
of  an  improved  age  in,  54.  Hi- 
eroglyphics of,  55,  note,  196, 
325.  "  Fall  of,  198. 

Egyptian  reed,  Pliny  on  the,  131. 

Eisenach,  Luther  begging  bread 
at,  220. 

Elective  franchise,  on  education 
for,  337. 

Electricity,  discoveries  in,  by 
Franklin,  81. 

Eliot,  S.  A.,  translation  of  «  The 
Bell,'  by,  295,  note. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  Puritans  in  the 
time  of,  56.  Houses  and  hu- 
man comforts  in  the  time  of, 
318. 

Ellsworths,  188. 

Emmet,  Thomas  Addis,  cited  re- 
specting Fulton  and  the  steam- 
boat, 107. 

England,  reformation  in,  56  Per- 
secution in,  56.  Remarks  on 


404 


INDEX. 


the  liberty  of,  63,  65,  222.  At- 
tachment to,  64.  Oppression 
of  mechanics  in,  85,  87.  Prop- 
erty in,  313.  Treatment  of 
Saxon  peasantry  in,  313.  Facts 
respecting,  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
318.  Human  comforts  in,  be- 
fore the  time  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, 318.  On  education  in, 
before  and  since  1688,  336. 
See  Great  Britain. 

Ennius,  80. 

Epaminondas,  223. 

Epic  poetry,  20. 

Epicurus,  Lucretius  translates, 24. 

Equality  of  condition  and  fortune, 
322.  See  Republican. 

Eras,  three,  in  the  annals  of  the 
human  race,  54.  See  Ages. 

Erasmus,  compelled  to  use  the 
Latin  language,  28. 

Euphrates,  49,  194,  \97. 

Europe,  separation  of  America 
from,  49,  52.  Difficulty  of  re- 
form in,  58.  Oppression  of  me- 
chanics in,  84,  85,  87.  On  the 
establishment  and  support  of 
places  of  education  in,  163. 

*  On  the  peasantry  in,  192.  Ed- 
ucation in,  215.  Two  classes 
of  men  in,  in  the  Dark  Ages, 
221.  Restraint  upon  mind  in, 
242.  On  imitating,  as  to  schools, 
273.  Property  in,  313. 

Eustathius,  commentaries  on  Ho- 
mer by,  198. 

Evenings,  on  the  improvement  of, 
153,  342. 

Exchanges,  309.  Benefits  of, 
310.  Requisite  for  the  sys- 
tem of,  310. 

Exhibition  and  Fair  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Charitable  Mechanic 
Association,  Address  on  occa- 
sion of  the,  in  1837,  280,  note. 
Object  of  the,  295. 

F. 

Faneuil  Hall,  329.  Enlarged,  330. 
Farmers'  houses  in  England,  318. 
Fathers,  appeal  to,  179. 


Fermor,  silver-plate  of,  319. 

Feudal  system,  broken  by  com- 
merce, 326. 

First  principles,  222. 

Fishery,  Smith  on,  60. 

Flande'rs,  93. 

Flavian  house,  fine  arts  under  the 
princes  of  the,  24. 

Foreign  institutions,  remarks  on, 
51. 

Fossil  plants,  Buckland's  account 
of,  in  Bohemia,  252. 

Fossil  remains,  247,  252.  Dis- 
covery of,  by  Cuvier,  253. 

France,  oppression  of  printers  in, 
84.  Attempt  to  introduce  the 
trial  by  jury  into,  98.  Influ- 
ence of  Alcuin  on  the  literature 
of,  175.  Condition  of  the  peas- 
antry in,  192.  Education  in, 
215,  336.  Feudal  divisions 
and  morals  in,  before  the 
French  Revolution,  243.  Ref- 
ormation in,  244.  See  Great 
Britain. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  bred  a  prin- 
ter, 77.  Discoveries  by,  81. 
A  hard  worker,  115.  Remarks 
on,  135,  136,  204.  Franklin 
Lectures  named  from,  139. 
Facts  respecting  and  compli- 
ment to,  by  Chatham,  154. 
Habit  of,  in  bestowing  charity, 
166. 

Franklin  Lectures,  address  deliv- 
ered as  the  introduction  to  the, 
in  1831,  138.  Plan  and  ob- 
jects of  the,  139,  151.  Named 
from  Franklin,  139. 

Frauenberg,  Copernicus  dies  at, 
237. 

Frederic  the  Great,  the  watch  of, 
294. 

Free  institutions,  effect  of,  on  in- 
tellectual progress,  26.  See  Re- 
publican. 

Free  schools,  see  Common  Schools. 

French  and  Indians,  275,  278, 
294. 

French  Academy,  pensioned,  to 
crush  Corneille,  25. 


INDEX. 


405 


French  philosophers,  243. 

French  Revolution,  222.  Feudal 
divisions  in  France  before  the, 
243. 

Frogs,  83,  137. 

Fulton,  Robert,  steam-boat  by, 
107.  Emmet  cited  respecting, 
107.  Decision  of  the  United 
States  Court  respecting,  108. 
Appeal  to  Congress  respect- 
ing, 108.  Allusions  to,  135, 
136,  145.  A  portrait  painter, 
155. 

Fultons,  188. 

Furniture,  in  England  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages,  318.  Of  Signer  Con- 
tarini,  319. 

G. 

Galileo,  persecuted,  25.  Affirms 
the  rotation  of  the  earth,  229. 
Observed  the  phases  of  Venus, 
238,  292.  Feelings  of,  on  first 
viewing  the  heavens  through  a 
telescope,  292. 

Gallia,  ancient  civilization  in, 
194. 

Galilean  church,  56. 

Galvani,  Lewis,  83. 

Galvanism,  discovered,  83. 

Gas  lights,  100. 

Generals,  qualifications  for,  131. 
Of  the  American  Revolution, 
158. 

Generations,  surcease  of,  176. 
Interlacing  of,  178.  The  con- 
nexion of,  the  foundation  of  the 
philosophy  of  high  education, 
180. 

Genevan  Church,  adherence  of 
the  Puritans  to  the,  57. 

Gengis  Khan,  50. 

Genius,  on  the  influence  of,  30. 
On  the  cultivation  of,  259. 
Tendency  of  knowledge  to  pro- 
duce higher  displays  of,  259, 
268,  note. 

Geographical  discoveries,  me- 
chanical inventions  lead  to, 
103. 

Geology,  Hitchcock's  Report  on, 


231.  Discovery  of  animals  in, 
247,  252. 

Geometry,  Newton  and  Leibnitz 
indebted  to,  128. 

George,  Lake,  Dieskau  wounded 
near,  294. 

Germany,  Reformation  in,  56. 
Oppression  of  mechanics  by 
the  crafts  of,  85.  Condition 
of  peasantry  in,  192.  Means 
of  education  in,  215. 

Girard,  Stephen,  312.  Early 
poverty  of,  321.  Effect  of  ac- 
cumulation in  the  case  of,  321. 
Habits  of,  322. 

Girard  College,  columns  of,  282. 

Glass,  art  of  staining,  lost,  75. 

Glass  windows,  318. 

Gloucester,  England,  establish- 
ment of  Sunday  schools  at, 
146,  note. 

Goethe,  28.. 

Gold,  Bacon  on  the  transmutation 
of,  229. 

Gold  mines,  59. 

Golden  age  and  eras,  19,  190. 

Governments,  only  two  forms  of, 
26,  335.  See  Republican. 

Gravitation,  on  the  discovery  of, 
81.  Deductions  from  the  law 
of,  228.  On  the  resolution  of, 
into  intelligent  mental  action, 
263.  Universal  attraction  of, 
310. 

Gray,  Captain,  piloted  Vancouver 
into  the  Columbia  River,  92. 

Great  Britain,  condition  of  the 
laboring  classes  in,  192.  Ed- 
ucation in,  215.  Steam-power 
of,  287.  Work  done  in,  by 
machinery,  288.  Italy  and 
Austria  compared  with  France 
and,  242.  See  England. 

Great  Western,  315. 

Greece,  golden  age  of,  19.  Con- 
nexion of  liberty  with  arts  and 
letters  in,  22.  Limit  to  the 
progress  of  the  arts  and  litera- 
ture in,  36.  Colonies  of,  37. 
Progress  of  freedom  in,  55. 
Religion  of,  56.  Ancient  and 


406 


INDEX. 


modern  civilization  in,  193, 
196,  240.  Limited  diffusion 
of  knowledge  in,  196.  Effect 
of  union  and  representative 
government  on,  196.  Effect 
of  books  on,  197.  Fall  of,  197. 
Exempt  from  a  dark  age,  198. 
Modern  political  restoration  of, 
199,  202.  Sympathy  with, 
199.  Reception  of  the  Bava- 
rian Prince,  as  King  of,  201. 
Prospective  progress  of,  201. 

Greek  language  and  literature, 
limited  extent  of,  37.  See 
Greece. 

Greek  monks,  198. 

Greek  republics,  10.   See  Greece. 

Greek  sophists,  225. 

Greeks,  civilization  of  the,  8. 
Geometry  of  the,  128.  Spin- 
ning-wheels among  the,  289. 

Greene,  Nathanael,  General,  43, 
154. 

Greenlanders,  124. 

Grimke,  Thomas  Smith,  Address 
by,  at  the  celebration  of  the  Sun- 
day-school jubilee,  146,  note. 

Grotius,  Hugo,  compelled  to  use 
the  Latin  language,  28. 

Guatimala,  71. 

Guatimozin,  61. 

Guicciardini,  25. 

Guilds,  see  Crafts. 

Gunpowder,  104,  233. 

H. 

Hallam,  facts  from,  respecting 
human  comfort  in  England, 
during  the  Middle  Ages,  318. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  General, 
43. 

Hanse  towns,  326. 

Harbors,  or  houses  of  call,  in 
Germany,  86. 

Hard  workers,  115.  See  Work- 
ingmen. 

Harvard  College,  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
Address  at,  in  1824,  7.  Found- 
ed, 163.  B-enefactions  to,  in 
England,  166  ;  in  New  Eng- 
land, 172,  330.  Bond  between 


Yale  and,  172,  211.  On  the 
origin  of,  211.  See  Yale. 

Harvey's  discovery  of  the  circu- 
lation of  the  blood,  235. 

Heavenly  bodies,  on  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the,  263. 

Heber,  Reginald,  208. 

Henry  IV..  of  France,  a  hard 
worker,  115. 

Henry  VIII.,  reformation  in  Eng- 
land in  the  time  of,  56.  Di- 
vine right  of,  218. 

Herschel,  see  Uranus. 

Herschel,  Dr.,  number  of  stars 
seen  by,  105. 

Herschels,  263. 

Hesiod,  261. 

Hieroglyphics,  55,  note,  196. 
325. 

High  priests,  56. 

Hindoos,  civilization  of  the,  191. 

Hindostan,  65.  American  com- 
merce with,  327. 

Hispaniola,  61. 

Hitchcock,  Professor,  Report  by, 
on  geology,  231. 

Hobbes,  on  Harvey's  discovery, 
235. 

Hobnail,  298. 

Holland,  motive  for  the  depart- 
ure from,  57.  Remarks  on  the 
banishment  to,  and  residence 
in,  66.  Condition  of  peasant- 
ry in,  192.  Means  of  educa- 
tion in,  215. 

Homer,  20,  22.  Virgil  translates, 
24.  On  attachment  to,  65. 
Commentaries  on,  by  Eusta- 
thius,  198.  A  wandering  min- 
strel, 256.  Sometimes  nods, 

258.  Influenced  by  his  time, 

259.  Images  of,  261.  Without 
spiritual  illumination,  264.    His 
vision  of  Ulysses'  visit  to  the 
lower  regions,  265. 

Hoosac,  Fort,  250.  Valley  of 
the,  278. 

Hopkins,  John,  on  Political  Econ- 
omy, 317,  note. 

Horace,  translates  Alca3us,  24. 
Says  Homer  nods,  258. 


INDEX. 


407 


Hottentot,  remarks  on  the,  141. 

Housatonic,  valley  of  the,  278. 

House  of  call,  or  entertainment, 
in  Germany,  86. 

Houses,  in  England,  up  to  the 
time  of  Elizabeth,  318. 

Flu  man  institutions,  on  imperfec- 
tion of,  106. 

Hungary,  outrages  committed  in, 
on  occasion  of  the  cholera,  147. 

1  luss,  facts  respecting,  236. 

Hutchinson,  Thomas,  cited  on 
the  settlers  of  New  England, 
69. 

I. 

Iberia,  ancient  civilization  in, 
194. 

Idlers,  exclusion  of,  from  the 
workingrnen's  party,  120. 

Ignorance,  evils  of,  147.  See 
Knowledge. 

Iliad,  see  Homer. 

Ili-ssus,  201. 

Immoral  people,  not  of  the  work- 
ingmen's  party,  118. 

Improvement,  ages  of,  24,  54,105, 
190. 

Independence,  comprehensive- 
ness of,  52. 

Independent  churches,  57. 

India,  remarks  on  the  trade  to, 
91.  On  civilization  in,  207. 
See  British. 

Indian  beads,  173. 

Indian  corn,  141. 

Indians,  effect  of  steamboats  on, 
141.  Remarks  on  the,  192, 
804.  French  and,  275,  278, 
294.  At  Martha's  Vineyard, 
304.  See  Savage. 

Indigo,  129. 

Individual  character,  8. 

Individual  exertion,  154. 

Indolence,  general  condemnation 
of,  115,  116. 

Induction,  233. 

Inhabitants  of  the  heavenly  bod- 
ies, 263. 

Instructors,  on  incompetent,  270. 
Cheap  and  poor,  271. 


Intellectual,  see  Literary. 
Interest,  the    whole  doctrine  of, 

320. 
Internal     improvements    in     the 

United  States,  90,  337. 
Inventions,  on  limits  to,  105. 
Ionia,   beset    by    barbarians,  50. 

Ancient  civilization  in,  194,196. 
Irving,  Washington,  345. 
Italy,    oil    from,    129.     Ancient 

civilization  in,  194.     Fugitives 

to,  from    Constantinople,  198. 

Threatened  by  the  Turk,  202. 

Intellectual  attainments  in,  242. 

J. 

Jackson,  Patrick  T.,  145,  note. 

Java,  coffee  from,  309. 

Jephthah  and  his  daughter,  in 
marble,  156. 

Johnson,  Samuel,  26. 

Johnson,  Thomas,  on  the  effect  of 
the  cotton-gin  on  lands  in  the 
South,  155. 

Jones,  Sir  William,  208.  Learn- 
ed, without  pride,  and  not  too 
wise  to  pray,  243. 

Jonson,  Ben,  25. 

Journeymen,  oppression  of,  in 
France,  84  ;  in  Germany,  86. 

Jupiter,  heathen  deity,  346. 

Jupiter's  satellites,  292. 

Juries,  on  European,  98.  In  Eng- 
land, 336. 

Jurymen,  importance  of  educa- 
tion for,  339. 

Justice,  on  the  administration  of, 
133. 

K. 

Kenyon  College,  Speech  at  a 
meeting  in  behalf  of,  162. 
Grounds  of  the  claim  of,  165. 

Kepler,  229.  Small  cited  respec- 
ting, 229.  Follies  of,  230.  At- 
tachment of,  to  the  Copernican 
system,  238. 

Keplers,  187. 

King,  Lord  Chancellor,  77. 

Kirchtrauf,  treatment  of  Czaki  at, 
148. 


408 


INDEX. 


Kites,  experiments  with,  82. 

Klucknovv,  Hungary,  outrages  in, 
during  the  cholera,  147. 

Knowledge,  difficulty  respecting, 
before  the  invention  of  printing, 
74.  On  the  general  diffusion 
of,  97,  98.  On  boasting  of, 
105.  Advantage  of  useful,  to 
workingmen,  138.  The  pur- 
suit and  attainment  of,  a  source 
of  happiness,  140  ;  a  means  of 
usefulness,  140  ;  of  power,  140. 
Accumulation  of,  187.  Address 
on  the  benefits  of  a  general  dif- 
fusion of,  213.  Institutions  for 
the  promotion  of,  214.  Diffu- 
sion of,  favorable  and  neces- 
sary to  liberty,  216,  223  ;  to 
sound  science,  224.  Influence 
of,  on  morals,  242.  The  ally 
of  natural  and  revealed  relig- 
ion, 245.  Definition  of,  246. 
Relation  of  poetry  to  diffusion 
of,  259.  See  Education,  Learn- 
ing, Literature,  and  Scien- 
tific. 

Knox,  Henry,  General,  43. 

L. 

Labor,  value  of,  in  America,  88, 
91.  Amount  of,  done,  93. 
Man  made  for,  113.  General 
commendation  of,  115.  Great 
men  distinguished  for,  115.  On 
the  value  of,  of  a  community, 
116.  Daily  value  of,  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, 116.  On  division 
of,  121. 

Laboring  classes,  condition  of, 
abroad,  192.  See  Working- 
men. 

Lafayette,  facts  respecting,  42. 
Welcome  to,  43. 

Lancaster,  Bell  and,  189. 

Land,  remarks  on,  in  America, 
88,  94.  Effect  of  the  cotton-gin 
on  the  value  of,  in  the  South, 
155. 

Landed  property  in  England, 
313. 

Languages,  effects  of  multiplica- 


tion of,  on  the  progress  of  ge- 
nius, 28.  Elihu  Burritt's  at- 
tainments in  the,  343. 

La  Place,  127,  158,  263.  Facts 
respecting,  187. 

Latent  intellectual  power,  242. 

Latin  language,  extensive  adop- 
tion of  the,  28.  Called  the  lan- 
guage of  Cicero,  29.  On  the 
use  of,  by  Luther,  220. 

Lavoisier  and  Priestley,  189 

Law,  the  profession  of,  133. 

Lawyers,  requirements  in,  130. 
Necessary,  133.  Want  of  leis- 
ure time  by,  153. 

Learning,  in  the  Dark  Ages,  175. 
The  instrument  of  reform,  176. 
Remarks  on  symptoms  of  de- 
cline of,  225. 

Leather,  clothes  made  of,  319. 

Legislators,  133. 

Leibnitz,  128.  Rival  pretensions 
of  Newton  and,  189. 

Leisure,  on  the  want  of,  for  study, 
152,  342,  345. 

Lenses,  known  to  the  ancients, 
79. 

Leo  X.,  the  age  of,  105. 

Letters,  invention  of,  and  the 
consequences,  23,  131,  132, 
196,  283.  Early  commercial 
value  of,  325. 

Lexington,  Kentucky,  34. 

Lexington,  Massachusetts,  330. 

Leyden,  Independent  Church  at, 
57. 

Liberty,  26.  Two  principles  re- 
specting, 58.  Of  England,  63. 
Greek  martyrs  of,  201.  Diffu- 
sion of  knowledge,  favorable 
to,  216.  Intimate  connexion 
of,  with  civil  society,  216.  En- 
joyment of,  in  monarchies,  216. 
Meaning  of,  217.  All  govern- 
ments subversive  of,  founded 
on  force,  217.  Two  ways  of 
promoting,  by  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  217.  Governments 
unfriendly  to,  founded  on  re- 
ligious imposture,  218.  First 
principles  of,  222  Intelligence 


INDEX. 


409 


of  the  people  necessary  to  main- 
tain, 223.  See  Education,  and 
Republican. 

Library  of  Thomas  Dowse, 
157. 

Light,  Newton's  discoveries  in, 
235. 

Lightning,  discoveries  respecting, 
by  Franklin,  81. 

Lightning  rods,  185. 

Lincoln,  Benjamin,  General,  43. 

Lincoln,  William,  345,  note. 

Literary  festivals,  174. 

Literary  improvement,  the  cir- 
cumstances favorable  to,  in 
America,  7  ;  the  new  form  of 
political  society,  10  ;  one  gov- 
ernment, language,  and  char- 
acter, 26.  See  Education. 

Literary  patronage,  11,  21,  23. 

Literature,  meaning  of,  18.  In- 
fluence of  liberty  on,  22.  Na- 
tionality of,  27.  On  written, 
197. 

Lithography,  100. 

Locke,  John,  persecution  of,  25. 
Alluded  to,  64,  204. 

Locomotives,  99.     See  Steam. 

London,  Tower  of,  25.  On  the 
population  of,  192,  193. 

Longinns,  268,  note. 

Longitude,  tables  of,  constructed, 
103.  On  ascertaining,  by  lu- 
nar observation,  240. 

Looking-glasses,  319. 

Lope  de  Vega,  28. 

Louisiana,  309. 

Lowell,  155.  Effect  of  capital 
on,  317. 

Lowell,  Francis  C.,  145,  note. 

Lowell,  John,  bequest  of,  332. 

Lucifer,  198. 

Lucretius  translates  Epicurus,  24. 

Lunar  observation,  240. 

Luther,  Martin,  wrote  in  Latin, 
28,  220.  Favored  by  the  Prin- 
ces in  Germany,  56.  An  ex- 
ample of  the  efficacy  of  diffu- 
sion of  knowledge,  218.  Lord 
Bacon  cited  respecting,  219. 
Translated  the  Bible,  220.  A 

35 


monk,  begging  bread,  220, 257. 
Remarks  on,  236. 
Lycophron,  24. 

M. 

M'Adam  roads,  100. 

Machiavelli,  persecuted  by  the 
Medici,  25.  On  giant  minds, 
257. 

Macedonia,  196. 

Mcllvaine,  Bishop,  162. 

Ma3vius,  a  Roman  poet,  225. 

Magna  Graecia,  ancient  civiliza- 
tion in,  194. 

Magnet,  235.     See  Mariner's. 

Magnetic  needle,  and  magnetism, 
see  Mariner's. 

Magnus,  Albertns,  215. 

Man,  a  working  being,  113. 
Formed  to  work  in  society, 
121.  Composed  of  body  and 
soul,  121.  The  mind  is,  150. 
The  three  teachers  of,  189. 
Endowed  with  two  preroga- 
tives, 281  ;  physical  power, 
281  ;  moral  power,  281.  Sav- 
age and  civilized,  compared, 
284.  A  religious  being,  346. 

Mankind,  Address  on  the  educa- 
tion of,  172,  175.  In  despo- 
tisms, divided  into  two  classes, 
221. 

Mansfields,  188. 

Manthuua,  223. 

Manufactures,  United  States',  89. 
On  capital  in,  816,  817. 

Marathon,  201. 

Mariner's  Compass, importance  of 
the,  55,  185,  233,  235,  292, 
326.  Supposed  to  be  known 
to  the  Chinese,  101,  102. 

Maritime  discoveries,  57,  326. 

Marshalls,  188. 

Martha's  Vineyard,  substance  of 
remarks  at,  299.  Indians  at, 
804. 

Martinelli,  facts  from,  25. 

Mary,  Queen,  tyranny  of,  56. 

Massachusetts     Charitable     Me- 
chanic    Association,  .  Address 
before  the,  in  1837,  280. 
£.  £. 


410 


INDEX. 


Massachusetts,  Fort,  250,  277, 
279. 

Massachusetts  State,  occasion  of 
the  settlement  of,  69.  Value 
of  daily  work  done  in,  116. 
Early  system  of  education  in, 
163,  334.  Representatives  to 
Congress  from  Ohio  and,  167. 
On  contributions  from,  for  a 
college  in  the  West,  170.  Col- 
leges in,  170.  Hitchcock's  Re- 
port on  the  Geology  of,  231. 
On  sustaining  education  in, 
270.  Whale-fishery  in,  315. 
Liberality  of  the  merchants  of, 
328.  Constitution  of,  cited, 
335.  See  New  England. 

Master-printers  in  France,  facts 
as  to,  84. 

Master-workmen,  prohibitions  as 
to,  in  Germany,  86. 

Massasoit,  306. 

Matter,  on  the  properties,  laws, 
and  uses  of,  104.  On  the  ad- 
justment of  mind  and,  106. 
See  Mind. 

Matthias,  245. 

Mayflower,  voyage  of  the,  68. 

Mechanic  Arts,  Address  on  the 
importance  of  the,  280.  Econ- 
omy and  accumulation  of  pow- 
er effected  by  the,  288,  290. 
Importance  of  single  improve- 
ments in  the,  288.  On  prog- 
ress in  the,  289.  Mind  acting 
through,  the  vital  principle  of 
civilized  society,  290,291.  In- 
tellectual and  moral  influence 
of  the,  291  ;  of  writing,  291  ; 
of  printing,  291  ;  of  the  mari- 
ner's compass,  292  ;  of  the 
watch,  292.  Object  of  the  ex- 
hibition of  the,  295.  Progress 
of  the,  in  modern  times,  295. 
Inventions  in  the,  lead  to  fur- 
ther improvements  and  inven- 
tions, 295.  Effects  of  applica- 
tion of  capital  to  the,  on  hu- 
man comfort,  318.  See  Arts. 

Mechanic  Association,  Address 
before  the,  in  1837,  280. 


Mechanical  inventions  lead  to  ge- 
ographical discoveries,  103. 

Mechanics,  value  of  scientific 
knowledge  to,  73.  Encour- 
agements to,  in  America,  to 
attain  scientific  knowledge,  84; 
their  freedom  from  restraints, 
84,  87.  Restrictions  on,  in 
France,  84  ;  in  England,  Ger- 
many, and  other  countries,  85, 
86.  Persecutions  of,  in  Eng- 
land, to  prevent  their  gaining 
a  settlement,  87.  The  enlarg- 
ed field  for  action  in  America, 
a  motive  for  their  mental  im- 
provement, 88.  On  the  intel- 
ligence and  morals  of,  96. 
High  rank  assigned  to,  in  the 
institutions  of  America,  97. 
See  Workingmen. 

Mechanics'  Institute,  chief  object 
of  the,  73. 

Medicean  age,  190. 

Medicean  patronage,  198. 

Medici,  Machiavelli  persecuted 
by  the,  25. 

Mediterranean  Sea,  ancient  civil- 
zation  on  the  shores  of  the,  193. 
Revival  of  commerce  in  the, 
326. 

Megatheria,  252. 

Menander,  Terence  translates, 
24. 

Menecles,  194. 

Menippus,  Cicero  taught  by,  194. 

Mercantile  Library  Association, 
Address  before  the,  in  1833, 
307.  Purpose  of  the,  307. 
Appeal  to  members  of  the,  331. 

Merchants,  130.  Liberality  of, 
328.  On  forming  right  con- 
ceptions of,  332. 

Mercury,  75. 

Metals,  transmutation  of,  74. 

Meteora,  198. 

Mexican  confederation,  70. 

Mexico,  59,  61.  Soil  and  sav- 
age population  of,  60.  Spoons 
from,  309. 

Microscopes,  184,  247,  284. 

Middle    Ages,    facts    respecting 


INDEX. 


411 


England  in  the,  318.  Revival 
of  commerce  in  the,  326. 

Military  commanders,  131. 

Military  despotisms,  217. 

Milo,  Cicero  pupil  of,  194. 

Milton,  John,  25,  28.  Sells  his 
Paradise  Lost,  25.  Compelled 
to  use  the  Latin  language,  29. 
Cited,  40,  260,  262.  On  neg- 
lecting, 65,  345.  Allusion  to, 
204.  Description  by,  of  the 
creation  of  animals,  230.  Time 
of,  259.  Images  of,  261.  In- 
fluence of  astronomy  on,  261, 
262.  Spirituality  of  his  poetry, 

266.  Compared  with    Dante, 
'  266.    His  Paradise  Lost,  266, 

267.  See  Paradise. 

Mind,  on  the  adjustment  of  mat- 
ter  and,  106.  On  the  culture  I 
of  the,  110.  Reasons  for  the  i 
cultivation  of  the,  by  the  pur-  | 
suit  of  useful  knowledge,  140. 
Remarks  on  the,  149.  On  the 
action  of  the,  of  one  generation, 
upon  the  mind  of  the  next,  182. 
Regularity  of  the  laws  of,  189. 
Retrogression  of  the  cause  of, 
in  some  countries,  193.  Re- 
straint upon,  in  Europe,  242. 
Christianity  revealed  to  the, 
245.  Education  to  discipline 
and  train  the,  255.  What 
is  meant  by  improvement  of 
the,  269.  Waste  of,  269.  Cul- 
ture of  the,  compared  to  the 
culture  of  the  earth,  269.  Con- 
trol of,  over  matter,  effected 
through  the  mechanic  arts,  281. 
Acting  through  the  useful  arts, 
is  the  vital  principle  of  society, 
290,  291.  Education  the  nur- 
ture of  the,  299.  Treatment 
of  the  body  and  the,  compared, 
301.  See  Education,  and  Soul. 

Minerva,  Temple  of,  37. 

Mines,  59,  62.  Effect  of  the 
American,  on  Europe,  102. 

Ministers,  132.    See  Clergy. 

Missionaries  and  the  claims  of 
the  West,  167. 


Mississippi  River,  appropriation 
for  removing  obstacles  in  the, 
70.  Effect  of  the  steam-boat  on 
the,  108. 

Missouri,  valley  of  the,  37,  38. 

Monarchies,  enjoyment  of  liberty 
in,  216. 

Monks,  Greek,  198. 

Moody,  Paul,  145,  note,  155. 

Moral  principle,  connexion  of  the, 
with  the  intellectual  and  phys- 
ical, 132. 

Morals,  of  party,  118.  Influence 
of  a  general  diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge on,  242.  Of  France,  be- 
fore the  Revolution  there,  243. 
Importance  of,  to  communities, 
331. 

Morning's  meal,  309. 

Mortality,  hourly,  159. 

Mothers,  appeal  to,  179. 

Multiplication  of  languages,  ef- 
fects of,  on  literature,  28. 
Remedies  for,  inefficacious,  30. 

Music,  185. 

Mystery,  synonymous  with  trade, 
75. 

N. 

Nantucket,  whale-fishery  from, 
315. 

Napoleon,  a  hard  worker,  115. 
Frederic's  watch  carried  away 
by,  294. 

Napoleons,  50. 

National  character,  8,  66. 

Natural  religion,  245. 

Nature,  on  the  study  of,  230  ;  in 
New  England,  241.  Templo 
of,  298. 

Navigation,  in  the  time  of  the 
Pilgrims,  48.  Before  and  after 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, 89,  91.  Aided  by  the 
chronometer,  103,  184.  See 
Commerce. 

Navigation  Act,  the  British,  327. 

Needle,  magnetic,  importance  of 
the,  55,  101,  185,  233,  292, 
326.  Columbus  guided  by  the, 
102,  235,  326. 


412 


INDEX. 


Neighbors,  as  teachers,  189. 

Netherlands,  222. 

Newcomb's  miniature  steam-en- 
gine, 287. 

New  England,  First  Settlement 
of,  44.  Remarks  on,  at  the 
landing  of  the  Pilgrims,  59. 
Aboriginal  population  of,  60. 
Contrasted  with  Spanish  Amer- 
ica, 60.  Connexion  of  its  cli- 
mate and  soil  with  its  freedom, 
61.  System  of  education,  163, 
334.  Claims  of  the  West  on, 
166.  Political  influence  of, 
168.  Colleges  in,  211,  214. 
Study  of  Nature,  in,  241.  Ef- 
fect of  commerce  on  the  colo- 
nization of,  326.  See  Pilgrims. 

New  Haven,  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
Address  at,  172.  Burial  place 
of  Eli  Whitney,  188.  See  Yale. 

New  Haven,  Colony  of,  contribu- 
tions by,  to  Harvard  College, 
173. 

Newspapers,  works  of  Albertus 
Magnus  compared  with,  215. 

Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  64.  Facts 
respecting  him,  and  his  discov- 
eries, 80,  127,  135,  158,  204. 
A  hard  worker,  115.  Indebted 
to  geometry  and  algebra,  128. 
Rival  pretensions  of  Leibnitz 
and,  189.  Kepler's  laws  said 
to  be  the  foundations  of  the 
theory  of,  229.  Discoveries  in 
light,  by,  235.  Citation  from, 
238,  263. 

Newtonian  philosophy,  see  Gravi- 
tation. 

Newtons,  187. 

New  York,  Fulton  affected  by  the 
laws  of,  107. 

New  Zealanders,  123.  On  edu- 
cating, 186. 

Niger,  mystery  of  the,  solved, 
203. 

Nile,  49.  Monuments  of  an  im- 
proved age,  on  the,  54.  Civil- 
ization on  the,  194,  197 

Ninus,  22. 

Norman    invasion,  treatment   of 


Saxon  peasantry  after  the,  313. 
Northumberland,  Dukes  of,  318. 
Novelty,  passion  for,  300. 

O. 

Oak,  contemplation  of  the,  110. 

Objectglass  of  the  telescope,  126. 

Office,  importance  of  education 
for,  341. 

Officers  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, 158. 

Ohio,  Speech  at  a  meeting  on 
behalf  of  Kenyon  College,  in, 
162.  Population,  situation,  and 
soil  of,  164.  Claims  of,  on 
New  England,  165.  Represen- 
tatives from  Massachusetts  and, 
to  Congress,  167. 

Olive  oil,  129. 

Oracle  at  Delphi,  346. 

Orion,  constellation  of,  263. 

Orphan  children,  Girard's  be- 
quest for,  323. 

Ossian,  popularity  of,  30. 

Otho,  King  of  Greece  alluded  to, 
201. 

Otis,  James,  anecdote  of,  227. 

Ottoman  empire,  Turks  and  Ray- 
as  in  the,  313. 

Ottoman  power,  dislodged  from 
Europe,  202.  Surrounded  by 
the  Russian,  202. 

Otway,  death  of,  26. 

Ovando,  61. 

Oxford  University,  Locke  expel- 
led from,  25. 

P. 

Painting,    the    talent    for,    129. 

Paper,  131. 

Paradise  Lost,  sold,  25.  Cited, 
260.  Struggle  in,  between  the 
old  and  new  philosophy,  261. 
Superiority  of,  267.  On  a  coun- 
terpart to,  267.  See  Milton. 

Paris,  combination  among  jour- 
neymen printers  in,  84.  Cor- 
ruption of,  before  the  Revolu- 
tion. 243.' 

Parliament,  rights  of  America  de- 
fended in,  64. 


INDEX. 


413 


Parnassus,  201 

Parthenon,  23. 

Parties,  political,  117,  118. 

Patents  and  patent  offices  show 
the  want  and  the  possession  of 
scientific  knowledge,  83. 

Patience,  104. 

Patmos,  198. 

Patronage,  literary,  11,  21,  23. 
Medicean,  198. 

Pearls,  59. 

Peasantry  of  Europe,  192.  See 
Saxon. 

Penn,  Mr.,  presents  by,  to  Penn- 
sylvania, 82. 

Periclean  age,  24,  105,  190. 

Pericles,  age  of  improvement  in 
the  time  of,  105.  Martyr  of 
liberty,  201. 

Perpetual  motion,  84. 

Persians,  on  the  civilization  of 
the,  192. 

Peru,  59,  61,  309,  331. 

Petrarch,  25,  198. 

Phi  Beta  Kappa  Oration,  at  Cam- 
bridge, in  1824,  7.  At  New 
Haven,  in  1833,  172. 

Philip  the  Fair,  56. 

Philip,  King,  306. 

Philo  the  Athenian, Cicero's  teach- 
er, 194. 

Philosophers,  remarks  on,  before 
the  invention  of  the  art  of  print- 
ing, 74.  Necessary  connexion 
of  mind  and  body  in,  124,  125. 
French,  243. 

Philosophy  of  Bacon,  233. 

Phocion,  23.  Martyr  of  liberty, 
201. 

Phoenicians,  invented  letters,  196. 
Opposition  to  Alexander  by  the, 
325. 

Pilgrims,  41.  First  Settlement 
of  New  England  by  the,  44. 
Peculiarity  of  their  enterprise, 
46.  Their  enterprise  favored, 
by  remoteness,  48  ;  by  the 
time  of  commencing  their  set- 
tlements, 54,  57  ;  by  the  nature 
of  the  country,  59  ;  by  their 
Uncage,  62  ;  by  their  adversi- 

35* 


ty,  65.  In  Holland,  66.  Pu- 
rified and  sifted,  66.  Voyage 
and  trials  of  the,  67.  Apos- 
trophe to  the,71.  See  Puritans. 

Pindar,  24. 

Pitt,  William,  advocated  the 
rights  of  America,  64.  On 
Franklin,  154. 

Pizarro,  61. 

Planets,  supposed  to  be  animals, 
230.  Inhabitants  of,  263. 

Plants,  fossil,  in  Bohemia,  252. 

Plate  of  Mr.  Fermor,  319. 

Plato,  the  philosophy  of,  23. 
Cicero  almost  translates,  24. 

Platos,  198. 

Pliny,  on  the  Egyptian  reed,  131. 

Plutarchs,  198. 

Plymouth,  Oration  delivered  at,  in 
1824,44.  Occasion  of  the  set- 
tlement at,  57.  Prospect  at 
the  settlement  of,  68.  Appro- 
priation for  repairing  the  beach 
of,  70.  Contributions  by  the 
Colony  of,  to  Harvard  College, 
173. 

Poetry,  on  the  different  forms  of, 
in  different  ages,  259.  Effect 
of  discoveries  in  astronomy  on, 
260. 

Poets,  requisites  in,  130. 

Poisoning  of  wells,  in  Hungary, 
147. 

Political  parties,  117.  Morals  of, 
118. 

Political  revolutions,  177. 

Political  slavery,  221.  See  Des- 
potic, and  Liberty. 

Politics,  ancient  religions  connect- 
ed with,  56. 

Polynesia,  on  the  inhabitants  of, 
192. 

Popery,  attacked  by  Philip  the 
Fair,  56. 

Popular  errors,  persons  subjected 
to,  229,  230.  See  Republican. 

Population,  increase  of,  in  the 
United  States,  33,  35,  103, 
181.  March  of,  westward,  36, 
37.  Increase  of,  in  Ohio  and 
Massachusetts,  164.  Of  the 


414 


INDEX. 


globe,  191.  Of  different  coun- 
tries, 191. 

Portugal,  peasantry  in,  192. 

Portuguese  settlements,  63. 

Potash,  137. 

Power-loom,  Cartvvright's,  129, 
143.  Application  of  the,  in  the 
United  States,  145,  note. 

Practical   life,  education   for,  74. 

Practical  Navigator,  Bowditch's, 
127,  157,  184. 

Prague,  fossil  plants  near,  252. 

Pratt,  Benjamin,Chief  Justice,  77. 

Press,  an  auxiliary  to  education, 
215.  See  Printing. 

Priestley  and  Lavoisier,  189. 

Principle,  on  adherence   to,  331. 

Printers,  oppression  of,  in  France, 
84. 

Printing,  importance  of  the  inven- 
tion of,  55.  Approach  to,  by 
the  ancients,  80.  Known  to 
the  Chinese,  101.  Compared 
with  a  musical  box,  104. 
Trades  connected  with,  131. 
Considered  as  an  instrument  of 
civilization,  195,  197,  202.  On 
the  influence  of,  291.  Little 
improvement  in,  296.  See 
Knowledge. 

Printing-press,  131. 

Prisons,  origin  of  the  reform  in, 
211. 

Producers  and  accumulators,  on 
a  comparison  of,  308. 

Production,  accumulation  and, 
308.  See  Accumulation. 

Products,  exchange  of,  309. 

Professional  men  want  time  for 
study,  152. 

Property,  discussion  of  the  topic 
of,  310.  Effects  of  protection 
and  non-protection  of,  310.  In 
England,  313.  See  Accumula- 
tion, Capital,  and  Wealth. 

Protective  policy,  337. 

Protestant  Reformation,  56. 

Provincial,  use  of  the  word,  12. 

Prussia,  education  in,  337. 

Ptolemaic  system,  237,  238,262. 

Public  sentiment,  96. 


Punctuality,  293. 

Pupil,  education  depends  on  the, 
188. 

Puritans,  origin  of  the,  56.  Their 
return  to  England,  and  opposi- 
tion to  the  Church,  56,  57.  Ad- 
here to  the  Genevan  Church, 
57.  See  Pilgrims. 

Pyramids,  22. 

Pythagoras,  conception  of  the 
Copernican  system  by,  125. 

Pythagorases,  187. 


Questions  of  great  interest  re- 
cently agitated,  337. 

R. 

Racine,  25,  28. 

Raikes,  Robert,  146,  note. 

Rail-roads  in  the  United  States, 

90. 

Rainbow,  235. 
Raphael,  129. 
Rayas,  313. 
Reading,  on   time   for,  152,  342, 

345. 
Reform,  difficult   in   Europe,  58. 

Political,  and   increased  inter- 

est in  popular  education,  336. 
Reformation,  The,  aided  by  trans- 

lations,  29.     Remarks   on    it, 

55.  Kindled  the  zeal  of  the 
Pilgrims,    55.     The    Catholic, 

56.  The    Protestant,  in   Ger- 
many,   56.     In    England,    56. 
Political  not  less  than  religious, 
218.     Doctrine  of,  in  the  writ- 
ings of  Wiclif,  236. 

Religion,  Sir  Humphrey  Davy 
cited  on,  137.  Knowledge  the 
ally  of  natural  and  revealed, 
245.  Importance  of  education 
in,  346.  See  Christianity. 

Religions  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
56. 

Religious  imposture,  governments 
founded  on,  218. 

Representative  government,  as  an 
instrument  of  civilization,  195, 
202. 


INDEX. 


415 


Representative  system,  the  first, 
11. 

Republican  governments,  of  the 
United    States,   promotive    of  j 
intellectual    improvement,    10.  ; 
Objections  to,  on  the  score  of  i 
patronage,  11,  21  ;   on  excite-  j 
ment    in  a  political  direction, 
considered,  14.     Necessity   of  ; 
intelligence    in,    223.     Impor-  j 
tance  of  common-school   edu- ' 
cation   in,  334  ;   in    connexion 
with  the  duty,  of  elective  fran-  ; 
chise,  337  ;   of  bearing   arms, 
339  ;  of  acting  as  jury-men,  ' 
339  ;    of   official    trusts,    341.  j 
See  Education,  and  Literary,     j 

Revolutions,  political,  177.  See 
American,  and  French. 

Richman,  Professor,  killed,  82. 

Robinson,  John,  father  of  the  In- 
dependent churches,  57. 

Roman  emperors,  deified,  218. 

Roman  republics,  10. 

Romans,  civilization  of  the,  8. 
Spinning-wheels  among  the, 
289. 

Rome,  the  Augustan  age  of,  24  ; 
letters  and  arts  of,  afterwards, 
24.  Religion  of,  56.  Allusion 
to,  196.  Circumstances  of  the 
greatest  minds  of,  256.  Nour- 
ished by  Sicily,  Turkey,  and 
Africa,  311. 

Rothschild,  Baron,  312. 

Roxbury,  329. 

Rumford,  Count,  136,  155. 

Russia,  on  the  nomadic  races  in, 
192.  The  Ottoman  empire  en- 
circled by,  202.  Improvement 
in,  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
202.  May  be  the  means  of  re- 
generating Asia,  202.  Alliance 
of,  solicited,  208. 

S. 

Saddle  Mountain,  271. 
Safety  lamp,  100,  137. 
St.  Peter's  church,  dimensions  of 

the  dome  of,  282. 
St.  Petersburg,  on  the  people  of, 


192.     Tablecloths   from,    309. 

Sandwich  Islands,  civilization  and 
prospects  in  the,  206. 

Saratoga,  43. 

Satellites  of  Jupiter,  292. 

Saturn,  the  planet,  247. 

Savage,  description  of  the,  183, 
185.  Superiority  of,  over  civ- 
ilized man,  284.  Benefited  by 
the  arts,  285.  Difference  be- 
tween the  civilized  and  the, 
285  ;  as  to  food,  285  ;  as  to 
clothing,  286.  See  Indians. 

Saxon  peasantry,  treatment  of 
the,  313. 

Schiller,  28.  His  Song  of  the 
Bell,  295,  note. 

Scholars,  claims  of  country  on, 
39,  42. 

School  Libraries,  270. 

Schoolmen,  219. 

Schools,  see  Common  Schools. 

Science,  modesty  of  true,  105. 
Dependence  of,  on  civilized  so- 
ciety, 132.  Diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge favorable  to  sound,  224. 
Among  men  who  are  not  au- 
thors, 239. 

Scientific  knowledge,  Essay  on 
the  importance  of,  to  practical 
men,  and  on  encouragements 
to  its  pursuit,  73.  Evils  for 
want  of,  74.  Taught  too  ex- 
clusively in  colleges,  75.  Ar- 
gument against,  considered, 
76. 

Scipios,  high  priests,  56. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  133.  To  be 
ranked  as  a  workingman,  134. 
Value  of  his  writings,  134. 

Selden  writes  in  the  Tower  of 
London,  25. 

Seneca,  41. 

Separation  of  America  from  Eu- 
rope, 49,  52. 

Sesostris,  22. 

Shakspeare,  William,  facts  re- 
specting, and  allusions  to,  25, 
28,  65,  123,  151,  204,  345. 
Want  of  literary  advantages 
by,  257,  258.  Cited,  260. 


416 


INDEX. 


Sheffield,  275.  Marble  quarries 
at,  282. 

Ships,  without  decks,  48. 

Sicily,  ancient  civilization  in,  194. 
Effects  of  insecurity  of  property 
in,  311. 

Sidereal  year,  293,  note. 

Sidney's  Discourses  on  Govern- 
ment, facts  from  31artinelli  cit- 
ed from,  25. 

Sight,  see  Vision. 

Silver  mines,  59. 

Silver-plate  of  Mr.  Fermor,  319. 

Simultaneous  discoveries,  189. 

Skipton  castle,  319. 

Small,  on  Kepler,  229. 

Smith,  Joe,  245. 

Smith,  John,  Captain,  59. 

Society,  the  most  perfect,  121. 
Dependence  of  science  on,  132. 
Artificial  structure  of,  193. 

Socrates,  martyr  of  liberty,  201. 
A  poor,  barefooted  soldier, 
256. 

Soil,  European  right  to  American, 
noticed,  60.  Of  New  England, 
61. 

Solon,  martyr  of  liberty,  201. 

Solyman  the  Magnificent,  218. 

Sophists,  Grecian,  225. 

Sophocles,  24. 

Soul,  what  is  the,  122.  Intimate 
connexion  of,  with  the  body, 
122,124  ;  consequence  of  their 
union,  123.  Remarks  on  the, 
135.  Becomes  great  by  con- 
templating great  objects,  261. 
See  Mind. 

South  Shore,  whale-fishery  from 
the,  815. 

Southern  States,  cotton  in  the, 
89.  Benefit  of  the  cotton-gin 
to  the,  100,  155. 

Spain,  peasantry  in,  192. 

Spanish  settlements,  61,  63. 

Spartacus,  217. 

Speech,  remarks  on,  300. 

Spence,  a  Scotch  lecturer  on  elec- 
tricity, 81.  Apparatus  of,  pur- 
chased by  Franklin,  82. 

Spenser's  Faerie  Q,ueene,  260. 


Spinning  machinery,  work  done 
by,  in  Great  Britain,  288. 

Stael,  Madame  de,  remark  by, 
30. 

Staining  glass,  art  of,  lost,  75. 

Standish,  Miles,  69. 

Stark,  John,  victorious  at  Ben- 
nington,  250. 

Stars,  the  number  of,  105,  262. 
Inhabitants  of,  263. 

State  and  Church,  56. 

Statesmen  of  the  American  Rev- 
olution, 158. 

Statuary,  requisites  for,  129. 

Steam,  on  the  application  of,  100, 
107,  233. 

Steam-boats,  by  Fulton,  107  ;  the 
consequences,  108.  Effects  of, 
on  the  Indians,  141. 

Steam-engine,  104.  Importance 
of  the,  287.  Labor  economiz- 
ed by  the,  287,  288.  New- 
comb's  miniature  model  of  the, 
287.  Improved  by  Watt,  290. 
On  further  improvements  in 
the,  297. 

Steam  navigation,  in  the  United 
States,  89.  Across  the  Atlan- 
tic, 315. 

Stereotype  printing,  100. 

Stock,  Thomas,  146,  note. 

Stock-in-trade,  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  319. 

Stockbridge,  275.  Dieskau's 
watch  at,  294. 

Study,  on  time  for,  152,  342, 
345. 

Sunday  Schools,  146. 

Sunderland,  Lord,  25. 

Superficial  learning,  225. 

Surgeons,  requisites  in,  130. 

Sweden,  means  of  education  in, 
215. 

Swina,  fossil  plants  at,  252. 

Swiss  cantons,  222. 

Syria?  167.  Ancient  civilization 
in,  194.  Ruin  of,  198. 

T. 

Table,  articles  on  the,  at  a  morn- 
ing's meal,  309. 


INDEX. 


417 


Tacitus,  cited,  24. 

Tanner's  stock-in-trade,  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  319. 

Tartars,  50.  On  the  civilization 
of  the,  192. 

Tartary,  American  trade  in, 
52. 

Tasso,  25,  28,  257. 

Taunton,  Remarks  at,  on  the  im- 
portance of  education  in  a  re- 
public, 334. 

Teachers,  the  three  human,  189. 
See  Instructors. 

Telescopes,  79,  103,  111,  184, 
261,  262,  284.  Obligations  of 
astronomy  to,  125.  Trades  em- 
ployed in  making,  126.  View 
through,  247. 

Temperance  reform,  origin  of  the, 
211. 

Temple  of  Nature,  298. 

Temples,  of  Thebes,  22.  Of 
Egypt,  destroyed,  50. 

Terence  translates  Menander, 
24. 

Thebes,  temples  of,  22. 

Thermopylae,  201. 

Theseum,  23. 

Thought,  on  the  capacity  of  im- 
parting, 282. 

Thrace,  the  abode  of  barbarism, 
37. 

Thule,  41. 

Time,  on  the  want  of,  for  stud}-, 
152,  342,  345.  Influence  of 
instruments  for  the  measure- 
ment of,  292. 

Timepieces,  influence  of,  292. 

Tisbury,  substance  of  remarks  at, 
299. 

Titian,  129. 

Torricelli  discovers  the  principle 
of  atmospheric  pressure,  127. 

Tower  of  London,  25. 

Tracks  in  sandstone,  on  Connec- 
ticut River,  252. 

Trade,  extent  of  American,  52. 
Mystery  synonymous  with,  75. 
.See  Commerce. 

Trades,  employed,  in  making  the 
telescope,  126  ;  in  the  cotton 


manufacture,  128  ;  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  books,  131. 

Trajan,  Arch  of,  24. 

Translations,  remarks  on,  30. 

Transmutation  of  metals,  74. 

Truth,  on  the  elicitation  of,  228 
Inspiration  of,  259,  262. 

Tupac  Amaru,  217. 

Turkey,  effects  of  insecurity  of 
property  in,  311. 

Turkish  governments,  oppression 
of,  199.  See  Ottoman,  and 
Russia. 

Turks,  condition  of  the,  192. 
Rayas  and,  313. 

Tyre,  Carthage  the  daughter  of, 
325.  -»  "" 

Tyrians,  opposition  to  Alexander 
by  the,  325. 

U. 

Ulysses,  visit  of,  to  the  lower  re- 
gions, 265. 

Union,  importance  of  National, 
52.  Of  the  States  of  Greece, 
considered,  196.  Of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  209. 

United  States,  prospective  view 
of  the,  33.  Rapid  growth  of 
the,  33.  Encouragement  to 
mechanics  in,  to  obtain  scien- 
tific knowledge,  84,  87,  88. 
Importance  of  the  task  of  ed- 
ucation in  the,  181.  Prospec- 
tive prosperity  of  the,  181.  On 
educating  the  successive  gene- 
ration in  the,  181,  183.  Rela- 
tion of  the,  to  the  work  of  gen- 
eral education,  209.  On  the 
union  of  the,  209.  Facts  as  to 
the  growth  of  the,  210.  Col- 
leges and  means  of  education 
in,  214.  See  America,  Educa- 
tion, Mechanics,  and  Republi- 
can. 

Universe,  ancient  conceptions  of 
the,  260. 

Un polite,  signification  of,  12. 

Uranus,  comets  within  the  orbit 
of,  262. 

Useful  arts,  see  Mechanic  arts. 


418 


INDEX. 


Useful  knowledge,  see  Knowl- 
edge. 

V. 

Vaccination,  104. 

Vancouver,  British  Admiral,  pi- 
loted by  Captain  Gray,  92. 

Vega,  Lope  de,  28. 

Ventriloquism,  remark  on,  300. 

Venus,  phases  of,  observed,  238, 
292. 

Vesper  bell,  Dante's,  265. 

Vessel,  illustrative  of  the  effects 
of  intellectual  action,  184. 

Vienna,  people  of,  192.  Threat- 
ened by  the  Turk,  202. 

Villiers,  67. 

Virgil,  translates  Homer,  24.  Al- 
lusion to,  65.  Time  of,  259. 
Images  of,  261.  His  spiritual 
world,  265. 

Virginia,  effect  of  the  settlement 
of  New  England  on,  69. 

Vision,  remarks  on,  300. 

Voting,  see  Elective. 

W. 

Waltham,  155. 

Wampum,  173. 

Wanderings  of  young  mechanics 
in  Germany,  86. 

Want  of  time  to  improve  the 
mind,  152,  342,  345. 

Wars,  servile  and  peasants',  217. 

Washington,  George,  43.  A  hard 
worker,  115.  Greene  the  friend 
of,  155.  Allusion  to,  204. 

Watch,  143.  Influence  of  the, 
292.  Of  Dieskau,  294.  Of 
Frederic  the  Great,  294.  The 
portable,  introduced  into  Great 
Britain,  294. 

Water-power  in  America,  94. 

Waters,  circuit  of  the,  206. 

Watt,  James,  on  the  conception 
of  separate  condensation,  291. 

Wealth,  not  necessary  to  emin-  j 
ence,  150,  154.  In  Europe,  j 
313.  Source  of,  in  America,  \ 
313.  A  counterpoise  to  the  j 
feudal  system,  326.  Superi- 


ority of  morality  to,  331.  See 
Capital,  and  Property. 

Websters,  188. 

Wells,  said  to  be  poisoned,  147. 

West,  Education  in  the,  162.  Re- 
lation and  obligations  of  New 
Engenders  to  the,  166.  Polit- 
ical influence  of  the,  168.  On 
the  prosperity  and  advantages 
of  the,  270.  See  Lexington, 
and  Population. 

West,  Benjamin,  155. 

West  Indies,  soil  and  aboriginal 
population  of  the,  60. 

Westminster  Abbey,  degradation 
in  the  vicinity  of,  193. 

Whale-fishery,  remarks  on  the, 
315. 

Wheat,  141. 

Whitney,  Eli,  cotton-gin  by,  89, 
129,  "155,  188,  note.  A  ma- 
chinist, 155.  Death  and  burial- 
place  of,  188. 

Whittemore's  carding-machines, 
129,  155. 

Wiclif,  236. 

Widows,  not  sacrificed  on  funeral 
piles  in  India,  208. 

Wilkie,  129. 

Williams,  Ephraim,  Colonel,  facts 
respecting,  278. 

Williams  College,  Address  there, 
in  1837,  249.  Historical  rec- 
ollections there,  250.  Notice 
of  the  foundation  and  founder 
of,  276. 

Williamstown,  Massachusetts, 
remarks  on,  275. 

Winslow,  Edward,  69. 

Winter  evenings,  on  the  improve- 
ment of,  153,  342. 

Winthrop,  John,  settlement  of 
Charlestown  by,  and  removal 
to  Boston,  329. 

Witness,  anecdote  respecting, 
340. 

Work,  see  Labor. 

Workingmen,  advantage  of  use- 
ful knowledge  to,  138.  See 
Hard  Workers,  and  Mechan- 


INDEX. 


419 


Workingmen's  party,  Lecture  on 
the,  113.  Founded  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  our  nature,  117.  Gen- 
eral object  of  the,  118.  Who 
belong  to  the,  118.  Exclusion 
from  the,  of  the  immoral  and 
dishonest,  118  ;  of  idlers,  120. 
Relation  of  busybodies  to  the, 
120.  Persons  included  in  the, 
121. 

Worms,  the  food  of  savages, 
184. 

Writing,  on  the  invention  of,  283. 
See  Letters. 

Written  literature,  197. 

Wyses,  336. 

X. 

Xcnocles,  Cicero  taught  by,  194. 


Y. 

Yale  College,  166.  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  Address  at,  172.  Bond 
between  Harvard  and,  172, 
211.  Four  first  Presidents  of, 
graduates  of  Harvard,  173. 
Origin  of,  211. 

Yorktown,  43. 

Young,  appeal  to  the,  respecting 
knowledge,  159. 

Young,  Dr.,  55,  note.  Rival  pre- 
tensions of  Champollion  and, 
189. 

Young's  Night  Thoughts,  30. 

Z. 

Zemplin  and  Zips,  Hungary,  out- 
rages in,  during  the  cholera, 
147. 


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